The Candle Man
by AeroZalen
Summary: Naruto meets a man that knows the secrets of his past and the key to his future, but only him Naruto can forgive him. If Naruto forgives him ,then he can have the family he always wanted. AU, just to be safe.
1. The Candle Man

The Candle Man

It was a normal day, almost just like any other, except today would be the day that "he" arrived.

"Hurry up, Ero-Sennin; I want to reach Konoha today!" Yelled a young blonde boy as he turned around to face the white-haired man lagging behind.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Jeez, tadpoles nowadays have no respect for their elders." The white-haired man grumbled under his breath.

The blonde turned around to see a large village just over the next hill.

"Hey, Ero-Sennin, want to play a game of tag?" asked the blonde. "I'll even use my **Orieke no Jutsu."**

"Fine," The white head replied before a cloud of smoke poofed into existence in front of him. Soon, a blonde hair girl appeared out of the smoke.

"Hahaha, catch me if you can, Ero-Sennin." The blonde said before running off towards the village, with the pervert chasing afterwards.

**MEANWHILE**

_Hmm, almost there._ Thought a man wearing a black cloak with blue clouds. Following behind him were a woman about the same age as him, and a teenage girl, about 17.

"Are we there yet?" The girl whined.

"No, honey, but would you like a piggy back ride?" The woman answered with a smile.

"Sure!" the little girl replied before hopping up on the woman's shoulders. "Wow, I can see for miles from up here. Hey, there's the village. Do you think we will arrive by tonight?" She asked hopefully.

"Probably, we can get something to eat tonight and do our job in the morning. What would you like to eat _baby_?" The said before snickering as the girl stuck out her tongue.

"Dad, I'm not a baby, I'm just not fully grown up yet. And nothing with any sea animals in it, okay Dad." The girl replied, quickly regaining her composure.

"Yes ma'am, and for you Haino-kun? The man replied with a loving smile that only could belong to a man with the two girls he loved.

"Ohh, just get me some rice balls." The older woman replied.

"Okay, while I do that, can you two set up camp?" I asked expectantly.

"Sure," They replied together.

So as the girls set up camp, the man walked into Konoha to get dinner for everyone. Not aware that tomorrow, his life would change.

**Meanwhile**

_Ahh, it feels good to be home._ The blonde now turned back into a boy thought. _I can't wait to see everyone._

"Hey, Naruto!" Yelled a certain pink hair girl. "Hokage-sama wants to see us and Jiriya immediately"

"Ughh, fine." The boy sighed before leaping onto a roof and bound away towards the Hokage tower with Sakura, and Jiriya right behind him.

Upon reaching the tower, Naruto opened the door to find Tsunade, the Hokage, arguing with a man wearing a monkey mask with Shizune holding Ton-ton asleep in a chair nearby.

"What do you mean someone from the Akatsuki was spotted crossing the border. Why am I just hearing about this now! And for the sake of all that's good and sacred, where in Sake's name are Naruto, Sakura, and Jiriya?" She screamed.

"Hey, Baa-chan, Kakashi-sensei. What did you call us here for?" Naruto asked, popping up from under Tsunade's desk.

"And I know that it's Kakashi under that mask because of that infernal perverted book in your back pocket, you had that bad habit of being late as pointed out by Baa-chan, and an ANBU's mask reflects their skills, and a monkey would be appropriate for you with your Sharingan, you know, 'monkey see, monkey do'.

Everyone except Jiriya and Naruto's eyes widened at his deductive skills having increased so exponentially.

"And speaking of 'that' book, you're still reading this same old one," Naruto asked, holding up the book from Kakashi's back pocket.

Kakashi's eye(s) widened further as he hadn't even noticed Naruto relieving him of his _precious_. Reaching behind him, he pulled out the book in his back pocket to find, instead of the normal orange-colored cover, this one had a red with gold border.

"That is the brand new, unreleased book in 'that' series, and..." Naruto said, before placing his mouth next to Kakashi's ear, "I wrote it." He whispered before saying out loud," and it's autographed by Ero-Sennin himself."

Kakashi's eye widened as far as it could go, and his breathing became very heavy to the point that he sounded like he was at the peak of pleasure.

"Anyways." Tsunade said, catching everyone's attention. "I would like to gauge yours and Sakura's progress since with an Akatsuki member being spotted crossing the border and headed this way; we need to know how strong you two are. So, as much as I would like to do the test today, it will have to wait until morning, what with Naruto just arriving back, me needing to have a talk and a drink with Jiriya, and Kakashi not available now thanks to his perverted present. (Cue glare at Naruto.) So, be at training ground 7, at 5:30 A.M. sharp. Got it?" She asked rhetorically, as every nodded any ways.

As every turned to leave, Naruto froze before bending down and pulling a sealing scroll out of his pants leg, then tossing it over his shoulder to his 'baa-chan' "I got you something too, you can thank me later." Before walking out to go eat some ramen.

Unsealing the scroll, a bottle of something and a note poofed out.

"What is it?" Shizune asked.

Tsunade picked up the note, trusting this to not be one of Naruto's pranks, before reading aloud. _This is a bottle of champagne, a foreign alcoholic beverage from "The Land Hidden in the Grapevines". Apparently this is how they christen a ship sea worthy, by throwing bottles of this at it, it seems like a waste to me, and the significance of it was lost to me. They gave me 3 bottles of this stuff when I saved the village from this 'pervert' that peeped on the council's daughters. Me and Ero-Sennin tried a bottle at some point and found that it tasted better than that fox urine you call sake, also further proving my point that you just waste it by throwing the bottles at ships. If you drink this, just be careful, apparently 1 bottle of this has as much alcohol as 3 bottles of saké._

"It is the best gift my god-son has ever gotten me, come you 2, tonight me drink, drink, and drink some more.

**Behind the Scenes (WARNING) Intense Plot Twist**

**The Next morning**

_Ughh, Naruto wasn't kidding, I got drunk so easy, and it tasted so good, I need to locate this village and form a treaty with them. _Our favorite female Hokage thought before turning to roll out of bed. Bumping into something, she turned her head to see a white head of hair next to hair. _White hair, in my bed, Jiriya, what happened last night?_ She thought before rolling the other way to climb out of bed to notice 3 things, 1. She was nude. 2. There were wet stains all over the bed. 3. She had this strange sense of fulfillment.


	2. The Game's Afoot

**The Next Morning,**

**Training Ground 7,**

**7:30 A.M.**

"Okay, now that, we are all here, you can begin your training." Announced the Hokage.

_Wow, they look so ready to fight, not bouncing around like that day. It's a good thing I read that book last night because I won't get a chance to today. I still can't believe that Naruto wrote that, from the beginning, it was much more intense and heavy than Jiriya's usual writing. _Kakashi thought, now readying his body for the spar. "Okay, you guys, just the first time, I want you guys to try to take the bells from me." He ordered.

As Naruto and Sakura started to charge forward, a soft _thump_ and a loud voice yelling caught their attention.

**'Candle Man's Group's POV**

"You guys ready?" The man asked as he turned to face the open clearing.

Knowing that their silence was answer enough, he leaped forwards, grabbing his daughter and putting her on his shoulder for good measure.

_Thump. Thump._

"Hey, put me down!" The girl yelled as he smirked. "Dad!"

_And so it begins_.

Immediately noticing the cloaks with clouds, Jiriya, Tsunade, and Shizune jumped into the clearing, ready for battle.

Leaping over his shoulder Tsunade grabbed the little girl from his shoulders, who began squirming immediately.

"Hey, what are you doing, Booby-Chan!?" The little girl yelled accusingly.

"What kind of sicko are you to kidnap a little girl away from her family!" Tsunade asked angrily.

"Sicko, girl, what'chu talkin' 'bout?" The man asked with a grin that was slowly growing bigger. "1. I didn't kidnap her, she's here of her own free will, 2. I wouldn't do that to a family because I wouldn't want anyone to kidnap my daughter, 3. I just appealed to your maternal instinct to help a child in need." He answered with his soon to be trademark, Cheshire grin.

"Huh?" Tsunade asked confused before she felt a strong kick in between her shoulder blades. Turning around she saw the little girl leaping to the other side of the field.

"Did I do well, Dad?" She yelled.

"You were perfect as always darling, now move unto step 2." He commanded.

"Okay," She answered before landing and going through a series of hand seals quicker than eyes could follow before finishing by crossing her arms in front of her.(For those of you who have seen Fairy Tail, imagine Iced Shell)"WATER!" She yelled her voice suddenly sounding like a raging ocean.

Next to the man, the woman did the same thing before yelling "_FIRE_!" as her voice resonating with the crackling of a fire.

Finally, the man followed suit before yelling "**EARTH**" his voice turning into a deep baritone.

Then altogether they yelled, "BLUE, RED, YELLOW, **Trinity Barrier Jutsu**," as a glowing barrier suddenly appeared.

_Trinity Jutsu, I've never heard of it, but then again, this is the Akatsuki. They're known for strange things. _Jiriya thought before settling into a Taijutsu stance.

"I don't know who you are, but you won't be taking the Kyuubi jinchuuriki today!" Yelled Tsunade.

"On the contrary, Mr. 9 here will come with us, if he ever wants to escape the burden of being a misfit. Come with us and I promise you that we will make Konoha pay for all those years of suffering you went through." The man's voice now so deep, it was making everyone so sleepy." I mean really, why would you want to stay with that pink-haired banshee, and that girl next to her, she's so flat chested, even the banshee has more than her." The man taunted, snapped Sakura and Shizune out of their stupor as they started to charge at him at full kunoichi speeds. "Hahaha, checkmate." He chuckled, before doing an upside-down ram seal. "**Chibi Jutsu**" He said, his voice now high-pitched. A suddenly blew away the smoke to reveal a 5-year-old looking boy, still wearing his Akatsuki robes, who said, "Pweese don' hit me, Onii-chans." He cried out, tears starting to form in his eyes.

Sakura and Shizune skidded to a stop, suddenly filled with guilt that they were about to clock this cute little kid before squealing, "KAWAII!", then diving forwards in a desperate attempt to hug him.

As they dove forwards, the boy jumped high into the air before releasing his jutsu to slam his feet into their backs sending them out of the barrier, then landing in the same spot as before. Finally, doing his hand seals, then crossing his arms again, only this time thrusting them backwards so his head was between them," **Wax Prison Jutsu **"Giving the barrier a whitish tint. (He had started to call it **Candle Lock Jutsu**, but something inside told him that if he did he might get sued and he couldn't afford to take the risk).

"Did he just-?" Asked Tsunade.

"I believe he did." Answered Jiriya."He just got rid of two of his opponents in the most unorthodox manner I have seen."

"Hehe, it's just like my **Sexy Jutsu**, but for women." Giggled Naruto.

"And now, the show can go on!" Yelled the man." And as my friend Diedera would say,' Art is an explosion!'!" As he ignited the paper bomb his daughter had concealed inside Tsunade's jacket causing them all to leap apart, Kakashi and Naruto going together.

As everyone land, they learned that they couldn't stop as they slid across the ground which was now covered in a filmy white substance. As they neared the 3 corners, the 3 Akatsuki members slammed their hands into the ground and said, **"KAI!"**, then, a hole opened up in the three corners, as the four people tumbled into their 'cages'. Tsunade with the little girl, Jiriya with the man, and Kakashi & Naruto with the woman.

"Now then, shall we begin the festivities?" The man asked. "You two, Banshee and Kimono, spread the word, the Akatsuki are at Training Ground 7, and your Hokage is about to die."

Sakura & Shizune ran off towards the village, knowing that they couldn't beat one s-class ninja, let alone two.

"Why did you do that?" Tsunade asked.

"Because what is a tournament without a cheering crowd?" The man answered, with his usual grin.

"While we wait, how about I explain the rules, Trinity Jutsu is a collaboration jutsu, it requires all 3 of us to use it, and so if you can beat one of us, then you can get free. The Person in front of you will be your opponent; we have to stay in our corners to keep each cell closed, so it will be a 1-on-1 match, well, except for Mr. 9 and Copy Kakashi vs. Heineko, and trust me when I say, that you should go all out. Also, because I'm such a good host, I will give some little tidbits of information.

1. We all know at least one Space/Time jutsu, in my case it's this field, it will grow to accommodate what happens, and it will always be 8:00 A.M., since that's when we cast the jutsu.

2. We each chose our opponents before hand so we are best matched up.

3. We won't kill you, we don't want death, just for you to see how utterly outmatched you are.

4. If you win, we will give you our names.

5. The Leader of Akatsuki is my brother.

So, who wants to go first?" He asked with his Cheshire Cat grin.


	3. Ika-chan

**A/N- it occurred to me that I haven't done a disclaimer for the first 2 chapters, so I will do 1 here and try to remember from now on.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, because if I did, then this is what it would be like**

**Ika-Chan**

Previously, on Candle Man

5. The leader of Akatsuki is my brother.

"Now then, who wants to go first?"

"Dad, can I go first!?" The young girl yelled enthusiastically, her voice now melodically ringing like ice cubes in a glass.

"I guess, just stay safe, and don't forget that we aren't fighting ordinary ninja, these are elite shinobi, 2 of them are the legendary Sannin, 1 is our target, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, and the other is the famous Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi, one of the last remaining users of the Sharingan." The man said with a parental tone.

"I know Dad, but if grandpa told you to be careful, would you? Yes, and that's why he's dead, because you held back, and he had to step in and take the hit for you, so stop lecturing me, and have faith that I can win." The girl said, then breaking her solemn expression with a bright smile that seemed to lighten the make-shift arena.

"Okay, oh, one last thing. I love you Ika-chan, now show them why you are the youngest member of the Akatsuki!" The man yelled, before giving a thumb up for the go ahead signal.

"Yay! How can I lose when my precious people are watching me? Old Titty-chan, I hope you are ready, because I don't pull any punches." Ika-chan turned around and yelled before making a seal and saying **"Kai!",** then jumping away.

"Haha, brat, you're 50 years too young to talk crap to me, who has seen a war, and fought toe-to-toe with a member of your group, Orochimaru." Tsunade said with confidence even though a storm was raging inside her.

_Youngest member of the Akatsuki, what is that man talking about, can this girl really be member of Akatsuki? No, he must have been saying that to unnerve me, but then again, he also said that they matched up to us according to their skills, so what can this girl do that can match me. Aghh, I'm too old for this, I need to find a replacement, then I can just live out the rest of my life drinking some of that champagne and gambling. Regardless though, I can't let them take Naruto, Minato and Kushina selected me to be his god-mother, and after not being there for him for 12 years, I won't lose him now._

Coming back to reality, she saw the girl pull out a scroll before starting to twirl, letting the scroll unravel in the process. Preparing for any sudden attacks, she saw a poof of smoke surround Ika before hearing her say, "Finally, I can get back in my comfy clothes." Then, the smoke disappeared just as fast as it appeared, the smoke getting sucked into the clouds on Ika's Akatsuki robe.

Finally Tsunade could see her opponent's head uncovered. Her hair a mixture of red and black with two ringlets falling to the side of her face, one on each, one black, the other red. Inside the black ringlet, a scroll rested, inside the red, a cup of water, for what purpose, one could only guess. Tsunade's eyes drifted lower to take in her face, her cheeks slightly large that to a civilian would say overweight, however, to the train kunoichi eye; it said one thing, well fed. Also, because of her cheeks, her lips were trapped in a pout. Her eyes were rather unique, almost like Naruto's electric blue ones, yet providing a stark contrast as her eyes were more sea foam green, yet shining with much more joy than should containable, yet beneath the surface, Tsunade could see the sadness and fear that she had. Finally, beneath her eyes, three black lines were "drawn". Overall, she looked pretty with the mystical allure that a mermaid would contain.

"Well, shall we begin, or do you want to stare at me some more. Old Titty-chan, you're just like Rorikon no Hebi, just wanting to stare at little kids even though you're so strong." Ika said, hoping to rile up the Hokage, before jumping back even further.

Now Tsunade had heard enough, you could insult her, give her stupid names, and all-around belittle her, but there was no forgiveness for those that brought up her former teammate.

"Oh, that's it brat, you just signed your death certificate!" Tsunade yelled before charging forward, fully intent on ending this fight as fast as possible before the girl could come up with a plan of attack.

Ika leaned around all Tsunade's punches, almost like she didn't have any bones. Finally, Tsunade threw a punch at her head, only for the girl to lean to the left, then the right when Tsunade used her other fist on the other side. "Haha, now let's see you dodge this, brat." Before aiming a kick at Ika's gut only for the girl to bend backwards completely in a move that would have broken a normal person's back. Knowing that she wouldn't hit this girl with random attacks, and would only tire herself out, Tsunade calmed herself down and came up with a plan.

"Okay, ready for level 2?" Tsunade asked the young girl before, knowing her answer, she struck with a left jab twice as fast as before only for the girl to side-step to the left side to prepare for an attack on Tsunade's "exposed" side, only for Tsunade to swing her right leg around on a collision course with Ika's side.

However, Ika was ready for this and in a move that many had tried before and had failed; she raised her hand and caught Tsunade's leg before going on the attack.

In shock from someone, a little girl at that, stopping her chakra-charged leg sweep, Tsunade was quite ready for Ika's sudden quick and numerous strikes.

**"Squid Pummel" **Ika shouted before hitting Tsunade multiple times, calling out every shot that came, but even with Tsunade knowing where to block she couldn't seem to stop Ika hits from connecting."3rd rib, 8th rib, 7th rib, right kidney, left lung, left cheek, right kneecap, left tibia, right fibula, 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th,10th,13th, and 17th spinal columns, and in a move reminiscent of Tsunade's first fight with Naruto, Ika brought her right hand up before thumping Tsunade's forehead, sending her flying back 10 meters. "And that's only Taijutsu, so are you ready to give up Old Titty-chan?" Ika asked before jumping into air, right before Tsunade broke the surface breaking the ground, before her clone turned into rock. **"Substitution? **No,** rock clone?** Very impressive, you're probably one of 3 people currently in Fire Country that could use such a high level Earth style jutsu."

"3? I only know of two, unless 1 of you? Most likely the man, since he's representing earth." Tsunade guessed before leaping up after Ika. "Oh well, he's not my concern right now, Jiriya can handle him, and as for you, congrats on reaching level 3. This is the equivalent of an elite jounin like Guy after opening 3 gates."

"Oh, if you're going that far, then I should power up too. So, prepare yourself for my ninja-volution!" Ika yelled, then reaching up to pour the cup of water into the ringlet. Water started to drip, until the drips gathered into a small stream, slowly growing bigger.

Tsunade not trusting that water even if it was small amount right now, it could become a problem if left unchecked. So, she jumped up into the air before spinning as she fell before yelling out, **"Falling Star Kick" **As her foot impacted the back of Ika's head, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl who was most likely dead now, but Ika fell face first in the small pool of water before disappearing into it, leaving Tsunade confused. Suddenly, she heard a splash near where her clone rubble was and saw Ika pop out as if nothing happened. "What? But… you used a space time jutsu didn't you?" Tsunade said, now feeling like fool for forgetting something so important. "Yes, I call it **The Looking Glass Jutsu**, however, it was pure luck that some of my water spilt on your clone or I would have just splashed down into a puddle. It would appear that I need something to keep you busy. Hey, Dad, can I use 'that' jutsu?" Ika asked after explaining the basics of her jutsu, not telling Tsunade that it went a lot deeper than that.

"I guess, did you collect the 'ingredients'?" the man answered before receiving a nod as a response.

"Great, now then, let's see you beat this one, Old Titty-chan." Ika yelled before removing the scroll from her other ringlet, laying it on the ground and opening it and unsealing the objects inside, in this case 5 more scrolls, only these were color-coded and included a note.

Blue: Sacrifices

Green: Kraken-sama 3

Red: DNA Samples

Black: Armor

Yellow: Clothes

Ika selected the blue one before unsealing one of the contents. A poof of smoke dissipated revealing a nondescript man wearing a black robe with beads hanging off of him. Then Ika started a long series of hand seals preparing one of her secret weapons for activation.

_Those hand seals, she couldn't know 'that jutsu', could she? But if there's one thing I've learned from Akatsuki, it's that they make a habit of pulling nuke out of nowhere. But even so, who could she get that would be able to hold me off?_

Tsunade quickly got here answer as Ika slammed her hands into the ground, her seals now finished, before yelling, **"Impure Resurrection Jutsu**." Causing a smoke cloud to surround the man, causing him to scream out in pain as he was drawn into the ground, however, as he was pulled into the ground a coffin began rising from the ground before the lid fell down, and the man inside stepped out into the sunlight bringing a fearful look to come to everyone attending eyes, as the killer of their 3rd Hokage, and the last of the Sannin, Orochimaru, to step out.

"So, you fulfilled your promise Akachan Ika. You have granted me eternal life, yet you still haven't explained to me what you wanted in return for this 'gift'." Orochimaru said, his eyes still closed as he basked in his eternal form.

"But, how, how did you get him to teach you 'that' cursed jutsu? What's more, how can you use it so callously, like the child you are, you don't know what the cost is for that jutsu." Tsunade yelled, now capturing Orochimaru's attention.

"Tsunade, have you been watching us all this time?" Orochimaru asked, slightly upset that she escaped his notice for so long. He then opened his eyes to notice that the sun was shining brightly, and that grass was under him, instead of stone, and shadows ."Child, what have you done to me?" He continued, his question now posed at Ika.

"In regards to your earlier statement, Tsunade, the nickname gone with Ika's smile, showing the seriousness she was demonstrating, I know better than anyone the cost of that jutsu. After all, I'm the one who created it, and Orochimaru, in regards to your question, I took advantage of the info I gave you. You see, I only told you about half of the details of this jutsu, just to see how you would react when I caught you in my tentacles like this. You see, when you make a sacrifice that hold any sort of value to you, it factures your soul, more so depending on the value of their life to you. When you sacrificed those two Sound shinobi, which fractured your soul into 3 pieces, I split a deal with your loyal assistant Kabuto, and later your chosen vessel Sasuke, to obtain your power. The greatest portion went to Sasuke, as he held your curse mark, the next portion was mine, then finally, Kabuto's. So as you are right now, you have about 1/3 of your total power, but we can fix that rather quickly, as I sacrificed a priest for you, so you will obtain his chakra as well, so you should have about 2/3 now, hopefully, that will be enough for you to hold off your former teammate, Tsunade. Finally, Hebi san, next time you try to cop a feel, don't use your tongue. **Now, fight Rorikon no Hebi!"** Ika explained, screaming at the end, before sitting down as more water flooded out, it now gather into a small amount of water, about enough for a bathtub.

"Well, if Akachan Ika wants me to fight, I'm only too happy to oblige, at least now that I'm immortal, nothing is impossible for me now." Orochimaru said, falling into the familiar stance of his style.

"Oh yeah, one last thing, I felt the need to modify your body for battle against a medic-nin, so I castrated you." Ika said, with a sickly-sweet smile that would make a certain blonde medic proud.

All eyes turn to look at the little girl had the stomach to 'experiment' on the Snake's body, many chuckled as them found the humor in that, but Orochimaru,, could only focus on 1 word and that word was 'castrate'.

Suddenly filled with anger towards Tsunade, blaming her for his situation, and embarrassed because now he felt like less of a 'man', he charged forwards and initiated the fight with Tsunade. Tsunade was surprised with the ferocity of his attacks, and how he was getting into her personal space. As she ducked a stab at her liver with a kunai, she punched his gut sending him flying back towards Ika. However, Ika just reached out a hand, caught Orochimaru, and spinning around, flinging him back towards Tsunade twice as fast. Tsunade not expected just a fast reaction, tried to move but Orochimaru's kunai clipped her arm, leaving a shallow cut. She then felt a pull on her belly, and as she looked down, saw Orochimaru's tongue wrapped around her stomach as he pulled her towards him with his fangs out, dripping with venom. Tsunade, reacting quickly, pulled out a kunai, and cut Orochimaru's tongue. However, her momentum still carrying her towards him, she turned slightly avoiding the fangs and using the momentum punched Orochimaru in the throat. He flew backwards, clutching his throat, trying to catch his breath, but Tsunade, pressing her advantage, continued pummeling him into the ground, before only his feet remained above ground. She then, grabbed his feet, and pulled him up and throwing him into the air, prepared for her **Eruption Punch. **Speeding through a set of 20 hand seals, a giant fist made of rock rose up at frightening speeds straight towards Orochimaru.

However, as Orochimaru now fell, he was coughing up blood, saliva, and venom still, and as the venom landed on the fist, it began disintegrating.

"What, is this another modification that girl did to him?" Tsunade asked worryingly, as there was no telling what else she did to his body, and mildly impressed with how she altered his body to fight her.

"Yes, it was a gift from Uncle; I will give you a hint as to what it is. The man that gave you three your title as Sannin." Ika replied in a proud tone, obviously glad that someone was appreciating her gift for modifications.

"You mean, you integrated Hanzo's poison sac into Orochimaru's body, but doing so would kill Hanzo, but you said that it was a gift from your uncle, but Hanzo was leader of the Rain village, so either you took over the village, or he found you and tried to stop you." Tsunade said, thinking that she had managed to trick the girl into giving away more info than she intended.

"Wrong, well right about the poison sac, but Uncle just had a grudge against Hanzo." Ika answered before getting a look that said she forgot something before making a seal, and saying **"KAI"**.

Orochimaru landed, now though a long white appendage was coming out the back of his pants. Suddenly, it stretched itself out it wrap around Orochimaru's body, who was now smiling like he had accomplished something magnificent. "Oh, I must thank you for your gifts later Ika." The snake said with as much thankfulness as was possible for him, which wasn't much.

"Oh, don't worry about it; the snake's name is Aithusa." Ika replied.

The white snake shot out towards Tsunade in a strike so fast that a certain youthful Jounin would be green with envy. Tsunade barely had time to jump out of the way, but the snake simply turn and began chasing her around the clearing, looking for an opening to attack.

"Are you having trouble, Tsunade, seeing as you're a Taijutsu user, distance fighting really isn't your forte, but even you should be able to something other run away?" Orochimaru quipped.

Suddenly, Tsunade split in half, now 2 Tsunades, before grabbed the other and threw her towards Orochimaru, then yelling, **"Rolling Axe Kick" **the Tsunade now spinning in mid-air, with the other one right behind her, running along the length of Aithusa. As Tsunade reached Orochimaru, who deemed moving useless as, with his resurrection he would just live on, she grabbed his head with her hands before flipping over and kicking him in the small of his back, and to add injury to that, the other Tsunade came up and gave him a killer uppercut, and as the force became too much, his head popped off. Then the first ran through a set of hand seals, while the other defended her back from Aithusa, who was now coming straight at them, while Orochimaru's body was still reforming, before she slammed her hands down and yelled,** "Great Burial Jutsu." **Then, a massive hole appeared and Tsunade threw his body down it before making another hand seal, and finishing the jutsu by burying the Snake Sannin deep within the earth. However, before he could be buried as well, Aithusa, detached himself from Orochimaru, and slithered over to Ika before nudging her head.

"I am sorry mistress; I was too weak to kill Tsunade for you." Aithusa said, his voice strangely the most pitiful of voices, like he could really feel sorrow, and ask for forgiveness.

"It's okay Aithusa-kun, the rorikon accomplished enough of his goal, as now I almost have enough water for _that_ jutsu, but I have to go fight now, so could you hold my place for me." Ika asked the albino snake.

"Yes mistress, I exist to serve you and if that's what you need then, that's what I will do." The snake replied in an obedient tone, now curled up in a coil.

"Okay, well looks like I'll have to hold you two booby-chans off long enough for Aithusa-kun to finished my seal." Ika said, now back in the fight.

The two Tsunade's attempted a move similar to the one they used to finish off Orochimaru, as one delivered a bone crunching kick to her back, while the other punched her in her gut, causing Ika to vomit up a lot of blood from the megaton pincer attack.

"Kami, I had hope I wouldn't need to use them but you don't seem to want to hold back, so I guess I have no choice as she pulled out the black scroll from before a poof of smoke appeared. Tsunade immediately jumped out of the smoke, knowing that fighting an enemy blind was not a smart decision. I she didn't have to wait long before Ika came out now clad in white boxing gloves and boots.

"Allow me to introduce you to my armor made especially for me by Dad. Now shall we continue?" Ika exclaimed before charging in without any real plan. One Tsunade was too surprised by her speed, which wasn't lessened because of the heavy-looking armor, to block the blow that connected with her cheek while Ika yelled out, **"Candle Clobber!" **As the Tsunade turned into rocks though, Ika quickly spun on her heels, bringing her fist up in the process to connect with Tsunade's incoming fist as they tried to overpower each other. (Think Sakura & Ino's fight in the Chunin exams.) However, surprisingly, Ika broke through, and her punch connected with Tsunade's left shoulder as she moved slightly to avoid the attack being fatal. Still, she was thrown back as 786 megatons of force were behind that punch, dislocating her shoulder.

_Joō Ika, 10 more minutes and it will be ready._ Aithusa's voice rang in Ika's head, blushing slightly at Aithusa's term of endearment.

That's it brat, you would've survived with me holding back ,but as you seem intent on dying today, who am I to deny your request anymore." Tsunade's voice came as she shoved her shoulder back into its socket. "It's time for level 5." She continued and just to show her strength now, picked up a pebble and tossed it towards the center of the field, causing a 30 foot crater to appear.

"I probably right, if you hit me, I won't live through it, but that's why I have to do this" Ika declared as she began gathering chakra for a big attack, while Tsunade, intending to stop her before she finished charged straight towards her.

_5_, she was 50 feet away. _4_, 20 feet away. _3_, 10 feet away. _2_, 5 feet away._ 1_, 1 foot away, and steeping forward into Tsunade's personal area, bent forwards and touched Tsunade's lips with her's, surprising everyone present, excluding Ika's mom & dad.

"Squid."Tsunade said before her vision went black.

She opened her eyes to see Ika with her father's trademark grin. "What did you do to me?" Tsunade asked questioningly before standing up. "Never mind, let's just finish this fight." She continued, before charging forwards and punching Ika's body, only for her to connect with Naruto. "Baa-chan, how could you, I thought we were closer than this." Before crumpling over, dead. Whirling around she swathe 3 Akatsuki members carrying Naruto's body away. Abandoning rational thought she charged after the, leaping through the trees. _Where's Jiriya and Kakashi, they were supposed to protect him?_ Suddenly, a heat began welling up inside of her, slowly drifting down towards her core, making it harder and harder to keep up the chase. Finally, it became too much as she stopped to lean against a tree, before falling over the limb, before someone landed behind her. Turning around, she saw a Konoha headband. "Stop them, the have ..kidnapped… Naruto!" She ordered only for the ninja to reply, "They can have him, nobody in this detestable village likes him." Then, he pulled out a kunai, before dragging the edge along her back, cutting her top. "You on the other hand, are quite a prize, I can just have my way with you, then kill you and Danzo can take over the village." Tsunade tried to cry out, but only moans came out as her soon-to-be killer had his way with her. Soon, he stabbed her in her lung, intending to let her slowly die as she passed into unconsciousness, arriving, surprisingly, at her old house. Sitting in a rocking chair was an old woman, still beautiful by her standards, with a child in her lap as she read to the little boy. "And that's what you great-grandma and pa looked like back when they were your age." Then, closing the book, said, "Okay dearie, time for bed, after all, tomorrow, you start the Academy." She smiled as the boy hopped up yelling, "One day, I'll be Hokage, and take over for step-great uncle." Before running off to his bed. Then turning her head faced Tsunade and said, "Bout time you got here, I've been waiting for you."

"But, who are you?" Tsunade asked.

"Can't you recognize me, guess what they used to say is true, you got more boob than brain. Anyways, I'm you 50 years from now." The old woman said then smiled in that way that only grandmother can.

Then, the door opened and in barged a pair of somewhat familiar faces, one framed by white hair, the other blonde and a Hokage hat. "Jiriya, Minato, what are you doing here, is this heaven?" Tsunade asked confused.

"No, this is the future, your future in fact, in 50 years." The old woman said, before walking forwards to kiss her husband, while Naruto just complained, "Aghh, Baa-chan, Ero-Gama-Sennin, I would pass a law to stop you but it would involve more paper work."

Turning around, Tsunade saw the open book and a picture of her and Jiriya in wedding clothes.

"But, you said that this was a picture of that boy's great-grandparents. I and Jiriya aren't parents, and we have never been married." Tsunade asked confused.

"Not yet, well, I can't tell you much, time paradox ya know, but you and Jiriya will have a child, pretty soon in fact, in about 8 months time." The old woman explained, then seeing Tsunade confused continued, "remember last night with the champagne and Jiriya?"

As realization came across Tsunade's face, so did anger. "I'm going to kill that Toad, for taking advantage of me!"

"Oh, I wouldn't do that, you'll need him soon, and don't even think of killing that child, that child will change the world for the better." The old woman finished. "Now, you should get back to reality", as Tsunade began to disappear.

"But, they've took Naruto." Tsunade said starting to cry.

"Oh no, you're just in a Genjutsu, and a powerful at that, you might consider learning that. One last thing, you can't tell those 3 about Naruto unless you all lose." The old woman said.

"But why?" Tsunade asked now barely there.

"All things will become apparent in due time, just remember, no one will ever love you more than Jiriya does." Older Tsunade said as Tsunade faded away.

Now when Tsunade opened her eyes all she could see was the make-shift arena.

"That was my **Phobia Jutsu**." Ika said, now recapturing Tsunade's attention. "Anyways, you were out for about 5 seconds, while I recuperated, and my jutsu is ready so how about I show you my favorite jutsu?" Ika continued.

Not waiting for an answer, Ika ran through quick series of hand seals, causing her fingers to glow ocean blue before she touched them to the seal of water that had come from her hair, as her chakra flowed through the water, it began to glow. Once she finished, she yelled out,"**Oceanica**" as the water seal changed to the kanji for sea.

Suddenly, a massive water-spout appeared in place of the seal/kanji, rapidly filling the field until the water was 50 feet deep. "Now," Ika said, now laughing maniacally, making a more hand seal before slamming the hand down into the water as a black sphere appeared under the water, **"Summoning Jutsu!" **as a group of 20 squids appeared out of the sphere in battle formation.

Tsunade jumped around trying to avoid them as they broke the surface intending to impale her. However, soon she went on the counter attack by slashing them with her kunai, causing them to go into long-range combat by collecting water on their tentacles and slinging it at her. As the water flew at high-speed, it changed into **Water Needles**, but due to the lack of chakra, the needles felt more like a slap than a stab, and soon Tsunade had limited them down to three.

"You weren't this intense before, I wonder what you saw in that Genjutsu that caused you to grow so quickly?" Ika wondered aloud before reaching for the green scroll unsealing the object inside, revealing it to be a spear. A plain white-colored wood that absorbed chakra to make itself strong to prevent breaking with a spear head that looked like a squid, with its tentacles intertwining to make the hilt.

"If you think that will be effective against a Sannin trained by The 3rd Hokage who was renowned for his staff fighting, then you are in for another thing entirely." Tsunade informed the girl.

"I realize this, which is why I'm unleashing my signature jutsu, which by the way should tell you who I am, or at least the name in your bingo books." Ika retorted as she stuck the spear head in the water. Below the surface you could see an inverted whirlpool with the end at the spear's head, before she pulled it back out, the head now 10 times its original size as she pulled it off and dropping it into the water where it grew to equal Ika in size, now a living squid.

"Hello, Kraky-kun, are you ready for fighting?" Ika asked in an extremely fan-girlish voice.

"I have been waiting all day for the chance to be with you again, and I need to get stronger to get revenge on _that_ guy for killing all of my family." (Sound familiar?) Kraken answered in a voice that sounded like a teenage boy. Then he jumped out of the water to land on Ika's head, before glomping her head with his tentacles out stretched, causing Ika to giggle before spinning at a rapid spin, where Kraken's tentacles drooped into the water drawing it up around Ika. Soon, the water fell to reveal 'Ika'. Now she was wearing a white dress, that curled around to cover her ample bosom, where it continued on around to expose her midriff, before turning into a long white skirt that stopped mid-thigh, where 10 white strips hung down, barely brushing the water. Now instead of her usual happy look that the pout created gone, replaced by an indifferent look that this girl had seen war and death, and had been the killer, this was the look of the kunoichi. The red and black ringlet gone into white now upraise to curl together to create a white spearhead. Suddenly, two black pearl eyes came out of the hair. But, what truly showed the change was her voice. Now a combination of Ika's and Kraken's to create an angelic, yet demonic voice as she warned Tsunade that this was her most powerful form, and to not hold back, or she would die. Then, releasing the chakra on her feet, she dropped into the water. Now, instead of moving slower like normal person, she seemed to only grow faster, now moving fast as Guy, with 6 gates open, causing her to only appear as a white blur, which coupled with the sun reflecting off the water's surface made it near impossible to spot her. Suddenly, she broke the surface, slicing Tsunade's arm before diving back in.

_That hurt like a wind style attack; well let's see how she likes this._ Thought Tsunade before performing an earth style wall, reinforcing it with her chakra, giving it the equivalent strength of a steel wall, however, that didn't stop Ikra from smashing through it like it was butter by encasing herself in water, then spinning in mid-air before yelling out, **"Whirlpool Drill Jutsu" **then, diving back into the water as she was significantly slowed down. However, Tsunade had already came up with a plan, by grabbing on to one of Ikra's tentacles and pulling her out of the water, and delivering a jaw breaking uppercut to the girl-squid, throwing them into the air, before making a few hand seals, then make **Stone Spikes** rise to meet her as she fell.

"It's over, just forfeit and I'll let you live." Tsunade yelled up to Ikra, thinking that it was over; however, Ikra had one last trick up her sleeve.

_Are you ready? I f we do this, then you're going to get hurt._ Ika's voice said in her mental connection with Kraken.

_If I can't deal with a few pin pricks like those, then how can I expect to beat him? Besides, I think you realize that we can't win in your form, so we need to do mine, just match your chakra frequency with mine and do the jutsu, okay? _Kraken's voice replied, as he prepared to finish it.

Ikra complied as she matched his chakra frequency, then ran through a long series of hand seals as she fell, nearing the spikes. However, just before she hit them, she yelled out, "**Bijuu Break, Umi Shukun!", **as a massive poof of smoke appeared over the arena, throwing it into shadows, as Ikra unleashed her ultimate jutsu.

_Bijuu? But, why would a member of Akatsuki contain a bijuu, wouldn't they end up having to sacrifice themselves to achieve their goal. And just what is a Umi Shukun?_ Tsunade wondered now feeling fear, from the killing intent being released or her own knowledge, she couldn't tell. One thing she knew though was that if a bijuu had appeared, then she would need Katsuya to even try to fight on even terms with it. So, she ran through the necessary hand seals before summoning her massive slug to combat the Bijuu. As she rode atop the slug, massive rocks began to fly towards her and the slug, most likely from her earlier attack. Finally, a massive ….squid dropped out of the sky, landed right in front of Tsunade. As she looked over, she saw riding atop it, Ika, now back to normal.

"You're a jinchuuriki?" Tsunade yelled questioningly.

"No, I just released Kraky's true form, and yelling out Bijuu tends to frighten people. Besides if you remember, bijuu also means Tailed Beast, and I did say Umi Shukun." Ika yelled back.

"But why is he a Sea Lord?" Tsunade said, preparing for a quick strike.

"Because he controls the sea, mush like your great-uncle, he can make water appear at will, and can manipulate it as he pleases in this form, so this is the end of our fight." Ika said, as Kraky started creating massive amounts of water for his final attack. However, as he did so, Katsuya, following Tsunade's orders launched a glob of acid at him, intending to stop his attack. But a wall of water rose up to protect him, and Ika yelled out, now pissed off, "You really shouldn't interrupt someone, as I was trying to say. Since I am currently fused with him, I can gain part of his powers, as you have just seen. Now, since I'm sure you didn't skip basic Chemistry, seeing as you're medic-nin, you know that water dilutes acid and lastly, Kraky, finish them!" Ika commanded.

**"Tidal Wave Jutsu"** Kraky said, as a massive tidal wave appeared behind him and crashed into Tsunade and Katsuya, causing the slug to return to where ever, and Tsunade to fall towards the ground as the water carried her down.

Once it was all over, Kraky excused himself back to his spear form, now out of energy and needing a rest. Ika jumped back down to the ground landing near Tsunade.

"Why do you have such a grudge against that boy?" Tsunade asked as she rose to hit Ika in the back.

However, Ika turned and answered with pure hatred in her voice, the hatred sounding so foreign coming into everyone's ears, **"Because that fox killed my beloved one, and the loneliness is too much to withstand anymore."** And finishing her move, tears now streaming from her eyes, stuck out a finger and poke Tsunade between her breasts, causing Tsunade to fall into a sitting position, and as the first tears hit the ground an energy wall appeared back in front of her, as she was recaptured in her cell, surprising everyone at how their Hokage was defeated so easily.

Now sitting back in her orginal position Ika wailed as the sorrow escaped her.


	4. The Will of Fire

**A/N: I don't own Naruto or any other anime for that matter.**

**The Will of Fire**

** "Because that fox killed my beloved one and the loneliness is too much to withstand anymore!"**

The woman looked away from her daughter as she wailed in pure sorrow, while the man dropped his smile to an empathetic look. But the intensity of her confession had burrowed into everyone's hearts, making them feel sad for some reason they didn't understand. Lots of people had lost family and loved ones to the fox, and had shed the same tears and wailed just the same, but the fact that someone so young lost someone who they loved that much was too much as tears appeared in the corners of the civilians eyes. However, most surprisingly, the most sorrowful person attending was Naruto.

Suddenly, Tsunade came to with a start, before realizing that she had lost her round, then slumping back down.

"Well, I guess I will go next, if you don't mind waiting." The woman said, addressing the man before walking off towards the center of the field whispering **"Kai"**.

But, without ever turning around she cocked her head to the side to avoid a kunai that flew past, coming from the hand of Naruto. Then, reaching her right hand up, snapped her fingers, making a ball of fire about the size of a **Rasengan** appear, before whirling around throwing the ball in the process, straight towards Naruto. If it weren't for Kakashi pushing him out-of-the-way, it would've took off his arm. However, with his arm out stretched, the fire singed his fingertips.

Using the moment of distraction, the woman sped forwards in an attempt to cut Naruto with a kunai she had pulled out, but this time Naruto was ready. Ducking under her arm he punched her in the gut. Yet this is what show wanted, spinning the kunai in her to face backwards she brought it backwards, stabbing Naruto through his shoulder, and just for extra measure, channeled her fire chakra into the blade, cauterizing the wound instantly, preventing it from healing, but suddenly, Naruto poofed away in a smoke cloud.

_Shadow Clone? No, I didn't see him make any hand seals. _Turning towards Kakashi, she saw Naruto behind him with another Kakashi. _Ahh, that man-made a shadow, and the boy substituted himself with it. They have great teamwork, but let's see how far I can push them._ She thought before engaging them again.

As she fought Kakashi kunai-to-kunai, she saw Naruto attempting to catch her from behind.

"Haha, if your think something like that will get me, then you need to go back to the Academy." She said, before an exact clone of herself, came out of her back, stopping Naruto in his attempt. Naruto just ducked down, doing a leg sweep in an attack, but as his foot made contact with the clone, he yelped out in pain, the leg of his pants now on fire.

"My **Fire Clone** is a rather handle trick I've created for little Taijutsu punks like you." The woman said, as she inhaled, preparing her next jutsu.

Kakashi, sensing trouble, substitute himself with his other clone, just as the woman breathed out, bathing the clone in fire. The fire continued on towards Kakashi, but he barely had enough time to create a water wall to block, creating a huge cloud of steam. But, as Kakashi's view of his opponents disappeared, she turned and with the help of her clone, engaged Naruto.

Now Naruto, for all this training couldn't hope to hold up to two S-class kunoichi on his own, but he wasn't quickly coming up with a plan. Luring the real one towards him while the clone kept a lookout for Kakashi, he managed to slip under the woman's guard, delivering him strong right to the same place as before. The woman, as much as she wouldn't admit it, had been hurt by that punch earlier, as that brat had a surprising amount of raw strength behind it. So, she did the logical thing at that moment, and swapped with her clone, but this cause Naruto to smile, as she fell for his trap. Now, opening his fist to an open hand, he thrust it straight for her mid-torso, before saying, **"Great Bellows Jutsu"** as an air blast came out of his palm, creating the same effects as average bellows, and stoke the flames into greater ones, while also creating a flamethrower that the woman couldn't hope to avoid.

The jutsu also had the unintended side effect of blowing away the steam, causing Kakashi to see Naruto.

While he was surprised that Naruto could now use elemental chakra, and wind at that, he now it wouldn't be enough to finish this woman, so he went through an extremely fast series of hand seals before breathing out a massive **Fireball Jutsu**, trapping the woman between to powerful fire jutsu and hoped that it would be enough. But, it was not destined to be, as the woman, frowned first, then hold out one hand towards each fire attack began to spin, drawing the fire towards her, then pulling it up in a flaming tornado, surprising everyone present, excluding her two companions, before finally, compressing it into a small ball.

Kakashi, anticipating something powerful coming, used an Earth jutsu to dig into the ground, while Naruto stood shock still, scared now that his plan had back-'fired'. The woman pulled the small ball down, and then slammed it down into the ground screaming as the roar of the flames increased tenfold, **"Solar Flare Jutsu" **as the compressed fire escaped making a wave of pure white flames head off in one direction, before rebounding into itself, because of being trapped in the prison jutsu still, turning towards Naruto before sailing at him like a pack of rabid dogs. Just before the flames reach him, though, Kakashi appeared in his little hole under Naruto, prompting Naruto to hop in, lest he burn. However, that's not to say that either one escaped unscathed, as their metals headbands began to burn then, so they quickly disposed of them, by removing them and throwing them up into the flames causing them to melt under the intensity of the flames.

After about 10 minutes the crackling of flames had stopped, they crawled back up into the arena, ready to reengage their fiery enemy.

As they surfaced the first thing they noticed was that everything looked virtually untouched, the grass was still green, trees not crispy, and no hint of the smell of smoke anywhere, prompting them to realize that the fire only burned what that woman wanted it to.

Turning to face her as they had questioning looks on their face, they dropped down into a crouch preparing for high speeds in case of trouble.

"You must be a fire specialist, judging from your control of it, and techniques, so water and earth seem to be the appropriate responses to counter act it." Kakashi said, now his Sharingan eye out.

"Is it now, how about you try to do that, then Copy Ninja." The woman retorted before speeding forwards even faster than before, her voice now hoarse like a smoker's.

As she attacked Kakashi, Naruto created a clone and prepared to a **Rasengan**, but as she approached him, she pushed a hand out before muttering "Rotation, Compression, and Constant Flow of Elemental Chakra." before a red ball appeared in her hand as she pushed it into Naruto's **Rasengan **causing a blowback. Naruto's chakra exploded, throwing him backwards, while the woman's only blew fire back, and the fire crawled up her arm, across her back, and down into her kunai, now infused with fire chakra, causing it to super heat Kakashi's. Kakashi, not expecting this display of ultimate chakra control, dropped his kunai, and attempted to dodge the incoming strike. But, the woman also dropped her kunai, before doing some hand signs, and kissed Kakashi's forehead, before he yelled out as a small flame drew across his skin, burning a seal into his body. Then, whisperingly said, **"Wax Seal" **before leaping back, avoiding the incoming punch from Naruto.

"What did you do to Kakashi-sensei?" He yelled accusingly before catching Kakashi as he fell forwards, his face now red with fever.

"Oh, not much, I just transformed all his chakra into fire chakra, which has two effects in him. 1. His core body temperature will rise until he can lower his chakra reserves. 2. He can't build up any other jutsu than fire style." She answered before smirking as the details sank in.

"But, fire doesn't work against you." Naruto said now realizing why she was smirking.

"Correct, and the only way to remove to seal is to… make me tell you." She said, before back flipping over Naruto's clone, kicking it and dispelling it at the same time.

"I would say you have about 5 minutes before his temperature becomes damaging internally, and then he will slowly burn from the inside out." She said, before adding, "So if you care about him, you better defeat me, and let's be frank, you can't do that without using your cloak, so let's get serious.", as she began to remove her cloak to reveal her clothes underneath, and her head, no longer covered by that hat.

Long streamlined midnight black hair that reached the small of her back with two small strands that fell to frame her face, a fiery kimono with black flames dotting the material. Her eyes, however, were what drew everyone's attention; they had the same color scheme as the Uchiha's Sharingan, only in reverse, with the eyes black as coal, with three crimson tomoes, that appeared to always be slightly shifting as if burning.

Her cheeks much like her daughter's, her lips, unlike her daughter, were pressed together in a smile that never reached her eyes. Her skin like chrome steel, smooth, but most of the shinobi could tell that muscles lay just below the surface. Finally, on her feet was a pair of combat boots that looked out-of-place as a snowman in the desert.

"You best just give up now; I would hate to scar your pretty face." She said before sidestepping a Naruto with a chakra tail trailing behind.

**"No, you give up, and fix Kakashi-sensei or else your life will be cut short. And why do you have 'those' eyes, you remind me too much of the teme!" **Naruto growled, now giving chase to the retreating woman. **"Now come back here and fight like a man!"**

""In case you haven't noticed, I'm hardly a man, but if it's a fight you want, then I'm happy to oblige." The woman said, as she turned to face Naruto, pulling a sword from somewhere, before sword and youki enforced kunai clashed. Soon, however, Naruto's natural strength, now powered up by the negative chakra, won out, and he pushed the sword out of her hands, causing it to spin through the air before burying itself in the center of the. But this just caused the woman to grin, before clacking her heels together, and set a trail of fire where she had run, causing Naruto to jump up to avoid the flames. As the flames connected it made the kanji for flame, with the sword in the middle. The woman ran up to it, before making some hand seals, as Naruto sped to attack her unguarded back. But grabbed the woman finished her seals just before he could reach her, and grabbed the hilt of the sword before saying, "Flames of my conviction, serve me, to have another soul join you." And pulling the sword up, the flames came with it, blackening the blade. And as she whirled around, slashing the sword in a downward diagonal slash causing a crescent of flames to burst from the end, before head in that direction.

"3 minutes left, you better hurry, or is it that you secretly want him to die." She said, her voice once again changed, now back to her first voice, as Naruto dodge the flame.

As he tried to attack her again, this time with an actual plan of attack rather than random attacks, she brought the sword up to block his strike. Seeing her exposed mid-section, Naruto went for a sharp punch at it. However, the woman let go of her sword with one of her hands, to catch his other, but what she didn't see coming was the chakra tail as it hit her in the gut, causing her to cough up blood.

Then, she lost consciousness for a second before coming to and realized that she need to end this quickly before Kakashi regained the ability to fight since she lost consciousness, the seal would just dispel itself, allowing him to rejoin the battle.

Stabbing her sword downwards stopped herself from flying any farther. She prepared for the strike she knew was coming, but it never did. As she landed she saw Naruto standing there, helping Kakashi to his feet, now out of his chakra cloak.

"Hey Naruto, think you can give me some time to prepare to fight her, I'm still a little weak, and I need to gather a lot of chakra for this next attack." Kakashi asked, now standing on his own to feet as he began to gather chakra for an attack.

"Sure, I'll give it my all to beat her. I give you my word, she won't beat me, and I don't go back on my word, that's my nindo, my ninja way!" Naruto yelled before, making a cross seal and said, "**Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu**" as 499 Naruto shadow clone's appeared, and charged towards the woman holding a black sword.

However, the woman didn't look at all deterred from engaging all the clones on her own, and bringing the sword out in front of her, before she began swinging it in an erratic manner, almost like she was writing in the air. Then, finally, she stabbed the sword down into the ground and turning it like a key before yelling, **"Time-Space Jutsu: Door to the Soul" **before all the clones dispelled at once surprising everyone at how easy she beat that many clones.

"What, how did you do that?" Naruto asked incredulously, before he heard it, the screams, as the jutsu hit him, and he fell to the ground spasming and screaming bloody murder.

"That is what it is like in your soul, thank you for giving me the key." The woman said, as she pulled the sword out, with a name now engraved in the blade, Kyuubi. "It's a combination jutsu with my sword, it take a tiny amount of your chakra, and then it allows me to make you 'feel' your soul. Not that effective on a normal person, but on mass killers, it works quite effectively, in stopping them."

_I won't tell them that now my sword will be locked onto his chakra signal, for the next week, and I can't use the jutsu again until after that. Oh well, I have nothing against the boy, just the demon inside him. I don't have that much chakra left now, thanks to that move, so this next one will use everything I have, I hope it's enough._

Then, she began gather chakra just like Kakashi, preparing for this one final attack, since Kakashi was still slightly out of it when he started; they finished about the same time.

As he pulled the water that had drained down his hole for his attack, he had a shadow clone prepare a lightning attack.

_If I'm right then this water should be able to override her fire, and with my lightning, this should finish her off._

**"Water Dragon Jutsu!" **cried Kakashi as a massive dragon made of water came out of the ground and began to head towards the woman as the clone cried out, **"Wave of Inspiration!"** combining the water with lightning.

As she finished her seals, she launched her most powerful attack.

"If you want to fight with dragon, then at least keep to the correct version, **Sun Dragon's Uprising!**" she cried before breathing out fire that slowly gather into a ball twice as big as her first one, before turning into a dragon that headed to intercept Kakashi's dragon.

As the two collided, Kakashi fell down from the blowback, while the woman whispered something under her breath that no one could hear, and in a sudden burst of speed, ran towards Kakashi, before kicking him in the chest sending him flying back into his cage. However, just before the steam enveloped her, he saw 2 wings in her back and a set of claws on her hands.

Now out of chakra, show slumped down in front of his cell, looking towards her husband, an unspoken message passed between them, and she yawned, causing some embers to come out and reactivate the seal, effective signaling the end of the fight.

"Well, shall we get started, then Uncle?" The man said, as he released Jiriya who gave chase, not noticing the words he used.

"Uncle? Could it be him, but, no, nothing is impossible, and if it is him, then no wonder he has such a grudge against Naruto, but he doesn't know that's he's Minato's son, oh Naruto, be careful, that man is the only one to ever match your dad in combat, and that was so long ago." Tsunade thought.

**P.S.-Yes, I am perfectly aware that this chapter was shorter, that's just because I like Ika a little more, and therefore had to explain everything, while I left some secrets about this woman, such as her name, and yes, I didn't accidentally leave Naruto out, if you caught the 'unspoken message'. On a final note, please review, and all flames should be directed to my secretary, who featured in this chapter.**


	5. Is This REVENGE?

**Revenge is a Dish Best Served with Waxed Fruit?**

"**Uncle? Could it be him, but, no, nothing is impossible, and if it is him, then no wonder he has such a grudge against Naruto, but he doesn't know that's he's Minato's son, oh Naruto, be careful, that man is the only one to ever match your dad in combat, and that was so long ago." Tsunade thought.**

"Naruto, get up! We're fighting an S-classed shinobi, not taking a nap! If you're not going to help then hide." Jiriya yelled, not able to help him because of the man he was fighting.

As Naruto got up, trying to stand on his own feet again, before finally falling to his knees. "_That's the power of an S-class shinobi? Not even Ero-Sennin exudes that much power, but he's an S-class shinobi too. How can I hope to compete with that much power? No, the real question is how can I leave Ero-Sennin to fight alone, even he won't be able to do this alone, and they need me alive. I made that promise to protect my precious people, and I never go back on my word because that is my nindo!_" He thought, now slowly rising back up, his body filled with new life in preparation for the coming fight.

XxXxXxX

Ducking a punch from Jiriya, white liquid wax came out of his sleeves before forming to katanas in his hands, one of which he swung upwards in an attempt to cut off Jiriya's outstretched hand. But, Jiriya quickly brought a kunai out to block the strike, even though the blow knocked him back several feet.

"_Wax? And that style? It couldn't be him, he was declared dead!" _Jiriya thought before he was brought out of his thoughts to block another strike aiming to cut off his head. Blocking a downward cut, he jumped backwards, trying to put some distance between the two combatants. However, the man quickly gave chase, before he was knocked backwards by a kick that he had to block with both of his swords.

"Huh, I thought that would be enough to break your swords." A blonde boy said, now joining the fight, as he landed after kicking the man's crossed swords. "But then again, I could feel it in the kick, those swords are stronger than normal ones, and not only that, they had the same feel to them as Gaara's sand, therefore, I can assume that they were created with nature chakra, and not like normal swords." He continued.

A smirk appeared on the man's lips, before it return to the usual grin. "Very astute boy, but that alone won't be enough to beat me." The man said, before charging forwards intending to disrupt Jiriya.

Naruto moved to intercept him, only for the man to leap up, and planting his feet on the back Naruto's head and back, used his body as a spring board to speed him towards Jiriya's now still body. Crouching low as he ran, he brought both swords out to one side of his body, and sliding his feet forwards, spun around, bring the twin blades with him, on through Jiriya's stomach, one though his neck. Yet before a collective cry could go up, the man spinning on his heels, more wax flooding out of his sleeves to turn his swords into massive hammers, yelled, "Don't underestimate me! I'm not that boy any more, such trivial tricks won't fool me anymore!", and using his spinning momentum, brought one of the hammers down on the ground. "**Magnitude 11"** causing the ground to shake and a still alive Jiriya to jump out of the ground, to avoid the attack.

"How very perceptive of you to notice that that was a clone you attacked, and that ability, tell me, what's your name?" Jiriya asked with a disarming smile, before dropping into an open hole that he had dug.

"Now, I said, you could have our names if you won, and you haven't won yet, so hold on, and bring it." The man said, now annoyed at how his opponent wasn't taking him seriously. Swinging both hammers up to crash into each other, before letting them drop down in an arc to crash into the ground in perfect sync, still vibrating. ""**Earthquake Hammer"** The man yelled, before everything became perfectly still, betraying the absolute chaos underground as seismic destruction struck out at Jiriya, prompting him to surface again.

"Okay, so digging a trap is out of the question. And close range attacks won't work so let's see how you handle long-range attacks." Jiriya said, before turning to Naruto to whisper into his ear, seeing the man spit on the ground, "Okay Naruto, do you think you can use your wind to augment my fire attack?"

"Sure, Ero-Sennin, but I've got this strange feeling. When I felt his chakra, it felt familiar to me, like I've felt it before. Not only that, but I feel like we are falling into a trap." Naruto answered before making the necessary hand seals for his jutsu while Jiriya did the same, the man just standing there holding his two hammers like he knew what they were going to do.

As they finished, they spoke together as they cast their jutsus towards the still man. "**Fire Release: Flame Bullet Jutsu" "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough" **The two attacks combining to create a flaming wind tunnel that was headed for the man now pulling a weird-looking kunai out of his pocket, before hurling it into the attack.

"If you think that's going to work against us, then try again. That trick wouldn't be able to fool a Genin!" Naruto yelled, before sticking out his tongue, not realizing the irony in his statement.

"Haha, you two might as well be Genin for as slow as you're moving." The man said, surprising Jiriya and Naruto as he appeared between them in midair, pocketing the kunai, and put the tips of his index and middle fingers to their heads with the thumb pointed out, like an imaginary gun. Reacting quickly, they both jumped away, sensing that an attack was coming. As they both landed, they got into a defensive stance, ready to block or dodge whatever attack the man used on them, he spoke his attack, "**Double Waxor"** before a glob of white wax came out of the ends of his fingers, about the size of a fist, heading straight for Naruto and Jiriya, who promptly dodged. However, this is what the man wanted, as he launched into a quick series of seals before flicking his wrist, making a small crescent of wax fly towards Naruto, hitting his arms and carrying him with it, until it impacted a rock, before hardening to the point that it was like a pair of chakra cuffs.

"**Candle Lock**, no **Wax Shackles" **The man said, before chuckling at himself. He just had this feeling that if he called that attack the first title, then something really bad might happen. "Anyways, that's chakra draining wax, so no funny business now, you hear?" He continued before a fist struck him in the back of the head, causing him to disappear in a puff of smoke.

As he turned to block a punch at his head, Jiriya noticed some off about this man. Likewise, the man noticed Jiriya's change of appearance. "So, you thought you had to use Sage Mode to beat me, huh? Look, I'm flattered and all but I would prefer not to be flattened, or killed, for that matter, so please forgive me if you die when I go all out." The man said before he too, disappeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced by the man's true form, which for some, and was creepily similar to their friend, Minato Namikaze.

Color scheme aside, they could pass for twins, even with their clothes. With crimson hair that practically shined, and a coat that was raven black in color, with white flames, being the only noticeable differences, they even had the same electric blue eyes; people were taken aback for a moment before they realized that this was the attacker's true form. They then grew angry that someone that attacked the village, was so evil as to take the form of their beloved 4th Hokage, and quickly began to call for his blood before his eyes turned to them, calm and collected, unlike the battle crazy persona minute ago.

"Ahh, Konoha, nice to see you again too, don't tell me that you have forgotten me already, and I notice that Danzo isn't here, is he off playing in some Roots of the mighty trees that your village was so aptly named after?" The man said with a calm expression on his face before returning to Jiriya.

"Shall we finish our fight now; I grow tired and bored with no excitement to entertain me." The man asked, before yawning loudly.

With that statement, the two men charged at each other, with the five tips of the man's hair suddenly ablaze with white flames.

Jiriya quickly went for a punch to the face only for a wax wall to rise up and meet him, followed by a high kick and low kick combo, both blocked in the same way. The man then went on the counter-offensive, aiming for the elbows, knees, and shoulders. Jiriya weaved in and out with his increased speed, before finally taking a strike to his right kneecap, which immediately locked up on him, causing him to stand still and try to block the rest of the strikes, which he did. Looking up, he saw that three of the original five flames were still alight.

_They must be like a timer, letting him know how long he has in that form, so from the looks of this, he has about three minutes left, while I only have two, huh, should be interesting._

Feeling his knee back to normal, he returned fire with a volley of back-to-back jutsus. First, his **Kabari Senbon**, then summoning a toad for a quick **Toad Oil Flame Bullet** before dispelling the toad before he could be hurt, next sending a **Wave of Inspiration** his way before finally resting to prepare to use the last dredges of his chakra stores. However, the man was still untouched, as the wax wall/shield rose up to defend him, even when he wasn't watching where the attacks were coming from.

_Haha, that shield must be an involuntary reflex, like that Gaara kid's sand, most likely a result of his new form, however, that doesn't change the fact that it's a powerful defense to overcome. It blocked my fastest attack, an attack that should've melted it, and it doesn't conduct electricity. I may have to use 'that' move to get through, but if I do that, and it fails, then I'm a sitting duck. Then again, he did promise me that he wouldn't kill me, but since when did I ever trust an enemy to keep there word. Yet, there's something about him that just seems trustworthy, almost like Naruto, and Minato was. Still, I feel that I should know him, he knows me obviously, quite intimately by the sounds. Oh well, I will figure it out later._

Seeing that they both had about one minute left, Jiriya decided to go for broke and use all of his chakra on this last attack.

Gathering chakra into his hand, making a Rasengan, and growing it until it equaled the size of a fully-grown man; he jumped up into the air before bringing it down on the dome/wall/shield of wax. However, what he didn't expect was for the man to do almost the same thing, aiming his regular sized Rasengan towards Jiriya. With his Sage Made still active, Jiriya could see the chakra behind the attack, close to the same amount as his giant Rasengan. As Jiriya prepared for impact, he called out his attacks name, the man doing the same. "**Great Rasengan" "Rasengan Cannon" **and in a feet no one had ever thought possible, the man made a thrust motion, launching the smaller, denser Rasengan at Jiriya's massive one.

As the two attacks made impact, the only thing Jiriya could think was, _I shouldn't have trusted him. _as he prepared to meet death. However, it was not to be, as after going through the giant Rasengan, the man's smaller one had lost a considerable amount of power, not enough to be considered weak, but enough that it was survivable for at least a high Chunin level shinobi, so instead of death, Jiriya was just thrown backwards through the air, spinning all the while until he landed in a heap back in his cell which the man didn't see fit to reseal as Jiriya lost consciousness.

"Okay, I guess it's just you and me, little fox." The man said, still using his calm demeanor, even though his flames had been extinguished, as he released Naruto from his shackles to fight him. "Those shackles should've eaten away enough of your chakra that you won't consider using anything big for an attack. In fact, that's perfect, I sense something about you, not the demon inside of you, but something different from other shinobi, something I haven't felt for a long time, and thought that I never would again. I would like to have the name of my opponent, and in return, I will give you my name, or at least the one everyone knows me by." The man said, now loosening his body in preparation for the big fight coming.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto answered proudly, before falling into his stance as well.

The man was shocked; he had heard nothing but Naruto's surname. _Uzumaki, and he does look just like Minato, at first I thought that it was wishful thinking, but Minato did say that he and Kushi-chan were going to have a child. But I thought that he was killed that night, and now…I don't know what to think! My want of vengeance upon the Kyuubi, I wanted it to pay but now, the only way to fulfill that desire is to do the very thing that I hate it for, for killing my family. I can't make this choice, either way, my life will be changed, and I just have to take the decision out of my hands._

"My title is 'The Candle Sage'" He answered, the thoughts running through his mind as he formulated his plan.

"Naruto, what drives you to fight?" The man asked.

"I want to protect my precious people, to never lose them if I can stop it!" He answered adamantly, wondering where this was going.

"But, what if you can't protect them, what if they were taken from you because you were too weak?" The man asked, a dark look on his face, but whether from malevolence or personal experience, no one could tell. "And later, when you had more power, and the chance to get back at the being that stole your precious people away, would you kill it even if it meant disregarding your people's wishes, and your moral code, or would you forgive them for something that they couldn't help? I mean do you blame a liar for lying, a thief for stealing, or a MURDERER for KILLING your precious people." The man continued, his voice slowly getting louder as tears began to fall from his eyes.

"Who did he take from you?" Naruto asked, stance now gone, and his voice quivering.

"He killed my family, my first family, my cousin and the man I loved as my brother, and as much as I love my wife and child, they can't fill in that void, theirs is a bond of love, but my first family's bonds were ones of blood and love. And I thought that he had killed my family's only child with them, but now I find it to be a lie. Now, my drive to avenge my dead family is blocked by the last member of it, their CHILD!" He screamed, clutching his head as wails broke his speech. "I'll give you one chance only, I can't deal with the situation in my hands, so now it's in yours. Hit me with everything you have, because if you fail, then you will die today, and there will be nobody to protect your precious people anymore!" He continued now standing up, regaining control of himself.

Naruto just stood up, walked forwards and punched the man in the gut with everything he had. The man didn't budge, but he could sense it. _This boy isn't afraid of death, he would gladly die if it meant he could protect his precious people. Hahaha, he's just like you Minato, and just like you, he will have me by his side. Not only that though, it wasn't just him that hit me, I could feel everyone he protects faith in him in that punch._

"Haha, alright, alright, you win fox, you get to live a little longer." The man said smiling again, but this time instead of a Cheshire grin it had actual happy emotions behind it. "Tell you what kid." He continued before pulling out a scroll. "If you can learn this jutsu within the next week, then we will surrender to Konoha, and whatnot."

Then, he turned Naruto towards Tsunade's cell and punt kicked him to her before shushinning out with his wife, leaving just Ika left. As Naruto crashed into the ground in front of her, she caught him, standing in the process, breaking the jutsu completely, before standing on her tippy toes to touch her lips to his check.

"Glad to know that you are still alive after all." She said before following her mom and dad's lead and shushinned out, leaving behind a stunned crowd, a daydreaming Naruto, a surprised Tsunade, and a still unconscious Jiriya.

"Great, now I get to tell him what he missed." Said Tsunade before thinking to herself. _But still, it was him, and judging from his current skills, he kept himself busy with his drive for vengeance against the Kyuubi. Oh well, if anything, with this current turn of events, Naruto should be a new man before long and if we can spin this right, then maybe we can get some new S-class shinobi._

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxX-OMAKE #2-XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx Xx

Somewhere in Suna

"So this is the Great Village Hidden in the Sand." A grating voice said rather loudly, belaying any thoughts of stealth, which was just his style.

"Yes Diedera, and our target is somewhere here so how about you cause a nice ruckus while I sit right here and wait" A cloaked man said.

"Yes Sir, Sas-" The other man started before tripping over his own feet, and landing on a sand dune. He thrust his hands out to stop himself, only for his hands to sink into the sand, causing his face to meet the dune as well.

"PHTooey!" The man said after he pulled himself out of the dune. "As if sand in your mouth was bad enough, I get it times 3" He continued while the other man just chuckled.

_**AN**_

_**Yes, I'm perfectly aware that this fight was shorter than the others, but that is for good reason.**_

_**1.I'm a lazy person that refuses to see what techniques Jiriya can use in Sage Made.**_

_** just saw Naruto fight last chapter so there was not much new there, but I wanted to add the bit at the end to this chapter to make up for it.**_

_** mental capacities keep betraying me by thinking up stuff for like 5-10 chapters from now.**_

_**In other news, if you have any questions about why the fights went the way they did, just leave a review, or PM, though I'm still relatively new, I should be able to figure it out.**_

_**Oh, and I made a special jutsu appearence this chapter. A cookie, or a picture, but most likely a shout out to first one to guess it. I didn't write the name, just gave a hint to it for the simple purpose that I can't remember how to spell it correctly, and can't remember English trans.**_

_**Soooooo, peace! :)**_


	6. Repeat Offense

Repeat Offense

XXxXxXxXx—Four days later—xXxXxXxXx

Four days had passed since the blatant attack on Konoha by the Akatsuki. Of course only certain people were even aware of whom the Akatsuki were so really, that helped to limit the amount of questions asked to Tsunade. The council had tried to spin this off as a weakness of Tsunade for keeping the 'Kyuubi brat' around. Then there was the issue of her defeat at the hands of another brat.

"How in the world could you lose to some Genin? You're supposed to be the Hokage, one of our strongest fighters!" The two elders yelled at a downtrodden Tsunade. "You should be glad that Jiriya was able to injury their leader enough to force them to retreat." Homaru continued.

"Haha, trust me, you two are idiots if you think that." Tsunade chuckled before throwing a file at them. "Jiriya is the lucky one, for the simple fact that he wasn't hurt too badly. Besides that, Akatsuki don't have a leader, they are just partners in most cases, this one just happened to be the exception."

"Two weeks is **_not_** badly hurt, and who do you think you are calling us idiots? You need to accept the truth that without Jiriya, we would have lost our weapon by this point." Koharu said now putting her two cents in before picking up the file before her eyes widened, and she handed it over to Homaru who followed suit.

"Weapon, last time I checked, he had a name. I also don't want to hear your opinions on the battle. Unless you were out there fighting, you don't have a place to stand. That girl was a member of Akatsuki, regardless of her appearance; she is an S-class kunoichi for a reason." Tsunade retorted before waiting for their response on the file's info.

"This has to be a mistake, he can't be alive. And this DNA test, have you double checked it? If it is him, and this is true than you could be right about Jiriya." Homaru said, finally getting over his shock, before tossing the file back on Tsunade's desk and walking out leaving Koharu with Tsunade.

"In response to his questions, triple checked, the girl that fought me is his daughter, so we can assume that the woman is her mother, and his wife." Tsunade said her attention now on the bottle of sake in her hand.

"Wonderful, just what we need, someone else that could be a threat to us. But what did he mean 'if you can learn this jutsu in a week, then I will surrender to Konoha'? Do you think he would actually do it? Oh well, regardless, he must be monitored. We will speak later." Koharu stated before turning on her heels and walking out, almost colliding with a shinobi entering Tsunade's office.

"Hokage-sama, Suna has requested our assistance on a matter. This message has just arrived for you from them!" the shinobi announced before setting the scroll on Tsunade's desk and taking his leave to give her privacy to read the message.

Tsunade reached for the scroll before unrolling it and reading the contents, her eyes growing wider the more she read. _So, the Akatsuki have managed to kidnap Gaara. Now Suna's without their Kage and the Akatsuki have the first jinchuuriki. They won't be able to move very quickly with Gaara's body. If we hurry then maybe we can catch them in time. I can't send Jiriya with him still hurt, and going myself is out of the question. Naruto might be able to handle one, but that's like sending Sasuke to fight a snake. If he loses then they will have two jinchuuriki, but Gaara's his friend, and he is one of our best. He and Sakura work well together, and Kakashi is still in fighting condition. I want to send 4, but 3 can move faster._

"Shizune, send for Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi, I have an important mission for them! Tell them to meet me at the West gate!" Tsunade yelled before standing up to go to the gate. As she slammed the door shut behind her, the draft of wind blew the pages in the file over to the last one, one that the two elders hadn't looked at. **Alleles shared with Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki, relation cousin.**

**XXxXxXxXxXxXx-Training Ground 7-xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**(WITH NARUTO)**

For Naruto, the past four days had been eventful or uneventful technically, as he had tried to learn the jutsu on the scroll. He had quickly learned that he was the only one that could see the writing on the scroll. This proved to be predicament when he tried to learn the jutsu. From what he could tell, it was a lightning style jutsu, making it even harder to learn. He had got some tips from Kakashi on how to get a lightning affinity, but they were still hard for him to do, and with four days down, he had really been training himself into the ground to learn this jutsu. Lucky for him, about the second day, Kakashi had told him a trick of the shadow clones. Whatever they learned would go back to him when they dispelled, effectively cutting downing training time.

As he dispelled the last 100 shadow clones, Naruto took in what they learned, getting a light headache in the process, before smiling. Focusing closely, he grabbed the two wires hooked up to a light bulb, and focused on the mental image of a circuit with electricity flowing through it. Opening his eyes, he was happy to see the light bulb lit up, showing that he could use lightning now.

_Okay, now on to the next step, if I just use the shadow clones, I'll have this down in no time._ Thought our blonde hero, before opening the scroll to read the next part. However, before he could read it, Shizune showed up.

"Naruto, Tsunade has requested you, Kakashi, and Sakura at the West gate for an important mission." Shizune said, slightly out of breath.

"Kay, Shizune, any idea what the mission is?" Naruto asked, already collecting his things, before leaping off towards his house to gather supplies with Shizune leaping next to him.

"Not really, only that it involves the Akatsuki and Gaara." Shizune answered, causing Naruto to widen his eyes, speeding up.

_I swear to Kami if Kakashi-sensei is late, then he will pay. _Naruto thought, landing at the gate seeing Sakura already there, conversing with Tsunade, ten minutes later.

"Hey, where's Kakashi-sensei, we need to get going!" Naruto shouted, landing next to Sakura, before smirking and turning towards the village, yelled, "OI, Kakashi-sensei, you have 5 seconds to get here, or I'm telling Tsunade-baachan and Sakura-chan about _that!_" Turning towards the gate holding up 5 fingers and counting down. Upon reaching 1, Kakashi appear from a Shushin, with a finger pointing at Naruto. "You promised to never speak of _that_ incident again."

"True, and I keep my word, I just wanted you to hurry up." The blonde shinobi said, smiling proudly that his plan worked, then facing Tsunade.

"Okay, here's the deal, the Akatsuki have infiltrated Suna, and managed to defeat and capture Gaara no Subaka." Tsunade said, switching to business mode before continuing, "They have requested assistance in the matter, however, with Jiriya out, and me unable to leave, it falls to you three to find, and rescue Gaara from their clutches. Be careful, we don't want to lose you Naruto. We are currently unaware if it's the same pair that attacked us, but even if it isn't they're still S-class. Lastly, Naruto, how goes progress with your scroll?"

"I managed to finish the first portion, but I haven't gotten to start on the actual move since I had to get a lightning affinity. I will try to work on it while we are gone, from what I can tell of the next portion, it should be easy to get through this step, and then I'll only have one more step until it's done." Naruto answered before continuing, "But I should have it usable for combat by the time we catch up with them. We should leave now, it's a three day run at top speed to Suna, and then we have to give chase to them." _I can't let them get Gaara; he's the only other Jinchuuriki I've met. And if what I hear is correct, he finally made it to Kage, Kami Gaara, I leave you alone for three years and you manage to accomplish something like that, I wonder if I had stuck around for three years if it would be me wearing the hat instead of Tsunade-baachan? Oh well, now's not the time to think of such things, we need to rescue Gaara. Not only that, but I need to learn this jutsu, so that that man will tell me about Mom & Dad._

And with that, Tsunade dismissed them to go, and they leapt away into the trees, in a hurry to reach Suna, Naruto managing to take the lead, giving a sharp laugh and held up Kakashi's Ichi-Ichi book, prompting him to give chase. Sakura, not one to be left behind, sped up to keep pace with the two men.

_Please come back from this Naruto, I know you want to save Gaara, but sometimes things just don't work out, so please just bring yourself back. I pray to Kami that you don't end up fighting __**that**__ man. I wouldn't put it past him to just betray your trust and capture you right then. _Tsunade thought, sending a silent prayer to Kami to protect her God-son. Turning around to go back to the office with Shizune in tow, she saw a thousand ryo note just laying on the ground. _Great, just what could happen to bring this upon me?_

XxXxXxXxX- Hyuuga Compound -XxXxXxXxX

_Just who does that __**slut**__ think she is, kissing __**my**__ Naruto-kun, he belongs to me. She better watch her back, or she might just find some organ damage in her near future. _Thought a certain blunette, flames blazing in her eyes as she took out her anger on her fellow clan members. **"Gentle Fist Style: Great Revolving Wheel: Reversal" **spinning in the opposite direction, as the original move did, have the reverse effect, instead of throwing everyone away, pulled them towards her, causing those unprepared to fly towards her as she jump up, carrying her chakra shield with her before spinning vertically as she fell. Focusing all the chakra from her shield to surround her arm, she slammed it into the pile of bodies gather beneath her, to send her chakra through all the bodies. Upon land, she fell down though, and fell down on her butt, then standing up, bracing herself on the pile of bodies, before continuing her fight. Unknowing to her, a pair of Byakugan eyes were watching her.

_Haha, the difference between how she acts when Naruto is around and not is so opposite that I would think they were two different people, and not just in demeanor. When Naruto left, she devoted her time to training. Now that he's back, I wonder how she'll act, like the shy, demure fan girl, or the confident, strong kunoichi. I need to leave but this fight is simply amazing. She's making new moves based off the clan jutsu, and I can't help but feel drawn to ask her to spar with me, but I don't have time. Okay, when I get back, I'll ask her for a spar. _ Thought Neji before he turned and walked off to leave on his mission.

xXxXxXx - 5 hours later - xXxXxXx

(Fire Country)

Naruto and company were making great progress; in fact Kakashi had predicted that they might have cut a day off of the arrival time. As the sun began to set, Kakashi suggested that they set up camp, causing Naruto to stop and drop to the ground, set his tent up in record time, before pulling the scroll out of his bag, in preparation to train some more.

_Okay, the scroll says to gather lightning chakra at the tips of my index and middle fingers, before pushing it out at high speeds. Okay, and the hand seals are, Dog, Ram, Dog, Snake, Dog, Dragon. Well, I better get started; the night's not even close to being done. _Thought Naruto before making a cross sign, **"Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu**" making around 100 Naruto clones that began working on the jutsu.

XxXxXx-Next Morning-xXxXxX

Naruto was lying on the ground, chakra exhausted, breathing heavily from all the hard work. _All night and I still can't get it right. I need more control to keep its shape correct after it leaves my fingers. It's already morning, and we need to go save Gaara, but I need to get this jutsu down, yet if I continue training like this, I'll be too tired to help save Gaara,_ Thought the blonde before pushing himself up to prepare to continue their mission, completely unaware of the pair of eyes watching from the treetops.


	7. Sand Castle

**Welcome to the Sand Castle**

As Naruto and company landed in the desert, Naruto noticed a dirt cloud ahead. "Kakashi-sensei, there's a sandstorm ahead, what should we do?"

"I would suggest taking cover, sandstorms can rage for days in Wind country, and has claimed as many victims as most shinobi." Kakashi answered, turning away, and using an Earth-style jutsu, made a dome for them to use as cover. Motioning for them to follow, Kakashi walked inside and sat down, preparing a small fire for light.

Following Kakashi into the dome, Sakura sat down, massaging her worn feet. "Man, we've been running like crazy ever since we left. My feet are killing me! Naruto, get inside before you get ripped to shreds!" Sakura yelled as Naruto still was standing outside with the sandstorm, looking at the horizon in the direction of Suna. _Don't worry Gaara; we're coming to save you! _Naruto thought before turning and heading into the dome as well.

The dome was by no means small, rather about the size of a large room, which was now lit up by the fire as Kakashi closed it to the world.

Within minutes Naruto was jittery, wanting to get to his friend to help him. Knowing that it wouldn't do any good to worry, Kakashi sparked a conversation with Naruto while Sakura had walked off to prepare their dinner.

"So how goes your training on _that _jutsu, have you made any progress with it?" Kakashi asked, curious about this jutsu that Naruto was trying to learn in response the man's challenge.

"Ahh, I just can't get the hang of it, sometimes I wonder if it's a broken jutsu that just can't be achieved except in certain parameters." Naruto answered, doing the necessary hand seals before once again trying to perform the jutsu, only succeeding in making a small marble size spark to appear on the tips of his extended fingers.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll get it eventually, you always seem to surpass everyone's expectations of you." Kakashi said, a hand on Naruto's shoulder to comfort him, "And don't worry about Gaara, he can handle himself, after all he's the Kazekage now, not a greenhorn Genin like all those years ago." Kakashi continued with an eye-smile.

"Hey guys, dinner's ready, come and get it before it grows cold!" Sakura's voice sounded from beside the fire, prompting the two men to go and eat their supper in the company of their resident pink-haired medic, and former, now together again teammate.

After getting their meal of beef stew, they sat down and began eating, conversing and taking bites. "So, Naruto how goes it?" Sakura asked.

"As I was telling Kakashi-sensei, I just can't get the hang of it. That man probably just gave it to me to distract me so I wouldn't be able to stop the Akatsuki when they took Gaara." Naruto answered solemnly before taking a bite.

"Yeah, I wish I could've fought that girl, even though Lady Tsunade couldn't win, maybe I could've found out something about Sasuke, but I digress." Sakura said, now slightly downcast as she just looked at her reflection in the metal spoon.

"Yeah, but look at the bright side, she said Orochimaru is dead. That means that we are that much closer to getting Sasuke back." Kakashi said.

"Yeah, and next time we meet, I won't be so weak, I will succeed in bringing him back to the village, and then, Baa-chan will have no choice but to give me that awesome hat!" Naruto shouted with determination, causing Sakura and Kakashi to chuckle when he stood up abruptly, in the process dropping his bowl onto his toe.

"Haha…Maybe you… Haha…should just go…*snicker*… to bed already Naruto." Sakura suggested, standing and walking over to get her sleeping bag.

"Good idea, we can't do much with this sand storm outside, so let's just sleep, maybe it will be over by the time we wake up." Kakashi said as well, tossing Naruto's sleeping bag at him, knocking him over.

"Haha, okay, sweet dreams." Naruto said, already changed into his sleeping bag.

XxXxX -Some Time Later- XxXxX

Naruto awoke to use the bathroom; upon returning, he noticed a big hole in the ground. Turning to wake Kakashi and Sakura to show them the hole, he also noticed that they had disappeared from their sleeping bags. _Huh, they must have already headed down the hole. I better go after them to see what's down there._ With that thought, he jumped into the hole.

Landing at the bottom with a soft thud, he saw that he was in a tunnel underground. Seeing a light around a corner, he crept to edge of the corner before peeking around it. What he saw was a shock to the blonde jinchuuriki, for he saw a castle built out of sand, with people milling around it.

Deciding to check it out, Naruto cast a **Henge **on himself, turning into a tanuki. _Why the heck did my __**Henge **__mess up, I was picturing a small dog, not a freakish raccoon dog thing!_ _Ahh well, you make do with what you got. _Thought the blonde before he trotted through the crowd, noticing shops set up along the away, with strange titles like "Sandy's Shovels" and Aladdin's Flying Carpet Emporium", also he caught remnants of conversation spoken in whispers. "…the One.", "He killed…", and "…exiled''. Even stranger was that he caught glances that quickly turned away as if trying to pretend they had ever seen him.

Finally arriving at the gates, he crept in, quietly as he could, to see that the courtyard was even stranger than the village outside. Instead of grass topiary, the courtyard was decorated with more sand sculptures than Naruto had ever seen in one place. Feeling a slight malevolence there, he charged head first into the castle, hiding in a nearby room. Catching his breath he decided that he should find out what was going on, turning he caught a glimpse of white hair. _Kakashi-sensei, he'll know what's going on! _Giving chase to the white-hair, he peeked around a corner to catch a glimpse once again, heading around another corner, the hair now pink. _And Sakura-chan too, now I really want to know why they left me behind?! _Sprinting to the corner, trying to catch up to his team mates, he reached the corner, to see a massive dining room, fully laden with all assortments of food, easily enough to feed a 4-man squad for a month-long mission. However, what really caught his attention was the crimson red hair at the end of the room, leaving. Giving chase, 2 halberds crossed in front of him, causing him to stop. Dropping into a fighting stance, and preparing to drop the **Henge, **the two halberds wielding men turning towards him, immediately, their eyes widened, and they bowed down to him.

"Please don't tell The Almighty One that we almost attacked you, dear suna tenshi! Are you trying to find him, he just left for the throne room; you can catch him faster by using the sand tunnels. Here you go." One said, still bowing, offering his body as a stepping stone to a hole in the wall. _Sand angel? Sand tunnels? "Almighty One"? That must be who that guy was, man, I thought it might be Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan. Oh well, I need to get this "One" to explain what this place is, apparently, the people outside are afraid of him, and tanuki, they must be connected. _Thought the blonde before hopping up onto the man's back and into the hole in the wall, which soon split off in different directions. The only things that guided him was giggles and call of "Sunaarashi!", and judging from the tone, they might appreciate some privacy but Naruto needed to find "One" and it wasn't like he hadn't seen it before. So running towards the sound, devising a plan for when he arrived. Seeing a light ahead, he jumped into it, only for the ground to disappear beneath him, leading to him plummeting down towards an intertwined couple, landing on the pile of clothes discarded by the couple. Despite the impact being softened, it still was enough to dispel his **Henge, **causing him to turn back to his human self, and scare the two love makers.

"Ughh, why do I feel like Ero-Sennin for this?" Naruto said, causing the two lovers to jump into action, the woman pulling the sheets up to cover herself, and the man to leap from bed to pull his sword from his bedside table, casting a **Henge **on himself to appear fully clothed. Jumping forward with a speed that Naruto barely dodged, he swung his katana in a motion in an effort to cleave Naruto's head from his shoulders. Ducking under the strike, he went for a sweeping kick for the man to thrust his sword down, pinning his pants leg to the floor, before sand flowed around his body, trying to catch Naruto's body. Creating a seal less shadow clone and substituting with it, he dodged, crouching down to catch his breath.

Looking up, he took in his opponent's appearance, the man doing the same. He had sandy blonde hair in a style similar to Gaara's, with a slight bit of baby fat still present in his face, with hazel eyes, surrounded by black eyeliner, making him to look even similar to Gaara. Naruto's eyes drifted lower to his midsection, he saw that he look scrawny, but Naruto's trained eyes saw the rippling muscles just below the surface. Wearing a pale yellow cloak that concealed his waist and any potential weapons from Naruto's gaze with pants of the same color ended just below the knees, leaving the calf muscles exposed. Observing the katana as well, it had a guard made in the shape of a heart with red threads running throughout the handle, and finally, a small gourd charm hung from the bottom of the handle.

"**Well well, hey Kit, let me have control of your body, if you expect to get out of here alive!" **Kyuubi roared in Naruto's head, "Why would I do something like that. You just want to take over my body! I mean, he looks strong, but I can beat him without your back stabbing help!" Naruto retorted. **"No you can't Kit, because that's-"** Kyuubi answered.

"Well, hello there, we don't get many visitors out here. Pleased to make your acquaintance, and welcome to my prosperous kingdom, presently speaking is the long reigning king, Sunaarashi, or as people call me by my title, Ichibi!" The now revealed Sunaarashi/Ichibi stated before continuing, "And who might you be to be able to waltz right in?"

"I'm-" Naruto answered before sneezing, bringing his sleeve to rub his nose, unintentionally rubbing off a small amount of sand that was covering his whiskers, which Ichibi noticed immediately.

"Ohh, it's you, my dear sister, or is it brother now, considering your form. Speaking of which, you missed me so much that you took a form similar to mine." Ichibi said, with a dark undertone with a shot of killing intent to back up his words.

**"That's why you need to give me the reins! Quickly, or else he will try to kill you, to test you. Just give the fu-" **Kyuubi roared, before Naruto released Kyuubi, to manifest in his body.

"Was that supposed to impress me, pipsqueak?" Kyu-Naruto asked, with a now prominent foxish grin on his face before continuing before Ichibi could answer, "And don't even start on me with that missing a sibling, with that red-haired whore behind you! If you wanted to tap this…?" Kyu-Naruto stated before using Naruto's Orieke Jutsu with a twist, turning into a young red-haired girl with a voluptuous body, and covered by only a few choice articles of fur, and turned round to slap her butt. "You could've just asked me."

"Ohh, really? Well then, can I?" Ichibi asked, now confused as he outstretched his hand reluctantly in case of a trap.

"Can you what?" Kyu-Naruto asked, baiting the man also her kid brother.

"C-c-can I tap you-yo-your butt?" The man asked, now stuttering, whether in anticipation or fear at the repercussions for his question.

"If you say the magic word." Kyu-Naruto said, causing Naruto, now watching the exchange, to laugh raucously.

"Can I _please_ tap your butt, _Nee-kun_?" Ichibi said, now over his spell of stuttering.

"Yes, you may, since you asked so nicely." Kyu-Naruto answered, bended over to put her butt in front of her little brother.

_Smack._ His hand connecting with her rear, causing her to give a slight, yet still loud yip of excitement, before a red-furred tail sprouted, upper cutting Ichibi.

"Well, little brother, you seem to have grown some since I saw you last. Regardless, shall we get down to business?" Kyu-Naruto exclaimed.

"Business?" Ichibi asked, confused, still rubbing his chin, before his tail came out, for him to sit on.

"Yes, business, I can't help but notice that your _mate_ is close to giving birth, I suppose you know what it is, and what you plan to name it?" Kyu-Naruto asked.

"It's a boy, and we plan to call him Asahi." Ichibi answered solemnly, "Because when he turns 18, I will leave him in the desert to build his own kingdom, and I can sense that I won't be around to help him as a father should, so with his name, he will beckon in a new age." Ichibi continued.

"Anyways, I suppose I should give you a present for he long journey, away from your husband, speaking of which, how is he? Still on that kick about build a village in the forest?" Ichibi concluded with a note of longing in his voice.

"Yeah, and in regards to presents, I think you are supposed to get presents when you're having a child, but ahh, what do I know, you think you could loan me _that_ scroll, I promise that have back by your 600th birthday!" Kyu-Naruto stated, before sharing a laugh over her mothering experience, swiping a scroll from his dresser, before substituting it with a scroll at her home.

"Well, it's time for me to leave. See you soon, I promise, after all, a vixen always keeps a promise to family." Kyu-Naruto said, flashing a smile with a fang over her lip, making her look cute, rather than sultry.

"Okay, Nee-san, if you ever need a favor just give a call, and I'll try to help best I can." Ichibi said, turning back to leap onto the bed, dropping the **Henge** to continue what he started.

Turning away, she thought, _18 years huh, I'll give you twenty years before I can't hold him back anymore._

Saying as much in the scroll, before a bright light flashed, and Naruto was waking up.

Looking around, Naruto noticed that he was still in his bed, and there was no hole in the floor, and he still had to pee. Heading outside, he saw the sandstorm still raging, deciding to follow his instincts, he turned to face the open desert before yelling, "Hey, Sunaarashi, think you could give us a lift to Suna, or possibly get rid of this sand storm, I mean, it is your desert, are you so weak that removing a tiny obstacle like this is too much for someone with your number of tails!"

To his surprise, as if in retaliation for accusing its master of being weak, the sandstorm swarmed around Naruto, even with the loud noise, words still carried to Naruto's ears, before the sandstorm dispelled, into a corridor for Naruto and company to reach Suna, strangely, in the distance, not past the horizon like it should be, Naruto could see the rocky terrain that showed Suna's location.

Hearing Naruto shouting, Kakashi and Sakura walked outside, Sakura still rubbing sleep from her eyes, before they widened in surprise at the strange desert behavior. Quickly running back inside and grabbing their supplies, Kakashi and Sakura followed behind Naruto, who had already broken into a sprint for Suna.

The words still ringing in his ears, he remembered his answer to them, _if I give you a way through the desert, can you save my himago? _Without thinking, Naruto answered, "Yes, I promise, and I never go back on my promises, because that is my way of the ninja."

XxXxXx- Omake 1 -xXxXxX

(Konoha: Council Room)

"Attention, my I have your attention?" Tsunade said, getting no silence, she slammed her fist down, and shouted the same sentence. Getting her silence, Tsunade sat down before starting again. "Okay, now to address the purpose of this meeting. In light of the recent attack on Konoha, I feel that I can no longer keep this info secret, what I'm about to tell you is a S-class secret, punishable by death if it should be spoken of outside this room. First you must all take a vow to never speak of this to anyone, do I make myself clear?"

Getting a unanimous answer of Aye, she continued onwards, begging forgiveness in her head to Minato and Kushina,"Now, it must be brought to your attention that you have all been lied to. Minato, the Yondaime, was not the last Namikaze, more to the point; the last surviving member is of eligible marrying age. Also, seeing as the Namikaze are the 3rd richest family in Fire Country, he will not marry a civilian or a weak shinobi, only a daughter of a clan, are there any who would wish for the remaining Namikaze member to marry someone of their clan.

Surprisingly, not many hands went up, whether from shock at the revelation, or because they didn't meet the criteria. However among those that met the criteria, they considered the facts and wanting to protect their daughters from marriage at an early age, knowing that they would be expected to help rebuild the Namikaze clan through procreation, in the end only two hands ended up in the air, belonging to one Hiashi Hyuuga, and one Shikaku Nara.

Noticing that all eyes were on him, he pulled two earplugs out, he asked the question that everyone was expecting, "Sorry, I was taking a nap, what did I sign up for?" A nearby ninja answered him, "You just volunteered your daughter to marry the last Namikaze heir." "Oh, but I don't have a daughter." Shikaku answered, before putting his hand to his chin to come up with a plan. "OI, Inoichi, loan me your daughter!" Shikaku yelled, surprising everyone that a Nara could yell. "Haha, no, that'll happen about as soon as Chozu over here goes on a diet." Inoichi retorted before turning to look at Chozu, who had a chocolate in front of his lips. "Chozu, did you sneak food in here again?" Shikaku asked, before chuckling under his breath. "Well, no one even noticed until Mr. Fake Blonde over here pointed it out, and you think it's easy to go without food; I don't see anyone getting upset at Hokage-sama for sneaking drinks in here!" Chozu shouted, earning a punch from Inoichi over his hair and Tsunade over her drinking addiction, resulting in him flying out the window. At this point, Shikaku began laughing out loud, before he earned a slap for falling asleep during an important meeting, resulting in him flying out after Chozu.

"Now then, back to business, you do realize that should your daughter marry him, she will no longer be under your control, but rather a clan leader's wife, and clan leader in his stead, Hiashi-sama?" Tsunade asked, already knowing the answer he would give.

"Well, I can't teach her anything, she's practically useless to me. At least this way she will have some use. So yes, I relinquish control of her upon her marriage. And don't worry about the secret; I will just inform Hinata that she has been put in an arranged marriage." Hiashi answered before taking his leave.

**A/N: Hey guys, I started to do a second Omake, but decided to just add it as part of the next chapter. So anyways, I have tests coming up soon, but considering how awesome I am, I don't need to study, so it won't impede with my writing schedule. So, see you after next chapter.**


	8. The Old Regime

**The Old Regime**

As Naruto ran through the canyon/gate of Suna, he noticed the destruction that had been wrought on the desert village. The canyon alone looked like someone had set off a rock slide, to keep something out, or in. Then there were the buildings, several were covered in sand, others had chunks missing, caused by some explosives. Finally, there were the people, as not only had the lost loved ones in the attack, and they had lost their Kage, the sheer knowledge that someone more powerful than their Kage, and had chosen to fight against them, showed in their downcast faces.

_And yet another village witnesses the might of Akatsuki. I made a promise to get him back, but I'm no where near S-class, nor am I able to make for it with a brilliant strategy. The sure fact that not just one but 3 would offer to join us because I'm able to learn a simple jutsu is a million-to-one odds, but then again I was always lucky, and it's not just a simple jutsu, considering I've put the equivalent of 1 year of training with my clones. I wonder where Kankuro and Temari-chan are? I can't imagine that they're just sitting around her on their butts._ Thought the blonde shinobi before turning, hearing a commotion behind him as, speak of the devil, Kankuro was carried into the village, with Kakashi and Sakura right behind him.

"What happened?" Naruto asked, running towards them as they turned towards what Naruto could assume was the hospital.

"He was poisoned in a fight with one of the two shinobi that took Kazekage-sama!" A Suna shinobi answered, running alongside the one carrying Kankuro, "He ran off with backup, like he could beat a shinobi that beat Kazekage-sama, the baka!"

"OI, at least he tried to do something, instead of standing around moping about what to do, because he gave chase, when he comes to, he can give us information about the two he gave chase to, and the one he fought." Naruto retorted before falling back to speak to Sakura, "Hey Sakura, you have any clue about how to help him, I mean I know you were trained on how to be a medic-nin by Baa-chan, but if the Akatsuki-nin was confident in his poison that he would be dead, rather than finish him off, there's the possibility that Suna has no cure, and I don't know if you packed for poison." Naruto finished, before waiting expectantly for an answer.

Sakura, surprised by Naruto's ability to think something like that out, gave her reply, grim as it was, "You're most likely correct, Suna has no cure, and I didn't pack for poison. However, I will do all I can, and if it comes to it, Tsunade-sama taught me technique to remove poison, but it will take a while, so we couldn't leave any time soon to catch up with Gaara's captors."

"So the only two courses are to heal Kankuro, but most likely lose Gaara, or go after Gaara, but let Kankuro die. I know Gaara would tell me not to worry about him, and to save Kankuro, but Gaara's my friend and I won't be able to live with the fact that I abandoned him to the Akatsuki!" Naruto said, weighing the two options available, before giving his opinion, "But, if I manage to save Gaara, which I have no definite way possible, and he learns that I left Kankuro, he would be mighty pissed off at me. While you can definitely save Kankuro?" Naruto continued, turning to Sakura for an answer, and when she nodded yes, continued, "then the optimal choice would be to stay."

As he finished, they reached the hospital, running inside, following the shinobi carrying Kankuro to his assigned room. After setting Kankuro down in a bed, waiting for a doctor to check him to see what he was poisoned with and to see if they had the necessary antidote for it; Kankuro broke into a cold sweat and began convulsing and screaming. Rushing to hold him down before he hurt himself, Sakura offered to check as she was a trained medic-nin, and would try to help him however she could. Choosing to let her perform the diagnosis, Sakura made some hand seals before her hands began to glow green.

Running her hands over his body, she found the larger concentrations of the poison and asked if they had a vaccine available for it. Hearing that they didn't, she began to give orders, switching into medic mode, in an attempt to save Kankuro's life.

XxXxX- (With Naruto) -XxXxX

Knowing that he would just be in the way now, Naruto turned around and leapt through a nearby window, already heading to his destination, the library.

Arriving, he ran through the info he could remember of his dream, as after the incident in the desert, he decided to see what he could find on the two men, already knowing a little about the first one, that he was the Ichibi.

Finding a sign directing him to the history books, he rushed around, trying to find the correct time period, before coming the realization that he couldn't remember the time period, whether from forgetting it, or not ever knowing in the first place. Considering asking the Kyuubi, Naruto threw that idea away before making a plan in a round-about way. Rushing back to the sign, not finding his way towards the Consensus Hall, noticing that the Asa's were on a top row, so he would need to know how to levitate, he didn't unfortunately, or would need to retrieve a ladder. So, visiting the sign for a 3rd and final time to locate a maintenance closet, finding one, he ran off to get a ladder, not noticing his small companion. Finally, after several hours of running around, he managed to track down a ladder, take it back to reach the birth certificate, reading the date written, slid down the ladder, almost hitting a wandering couple.

Apologizing, he decided to take a shortcut he noticed on an overhead map, and sprinting off in the appropriate direction, collided with an attendant carrying a massive amount of scrolls to put back where they belonged. Rubbing his head, he opted to put out a hand to help the young person up.

"Baka teens, baka old pervs to leave me in charge, baka blondes!" The young now revealed girl complained, before accepting the hand outstretched to her. Helping her collect the dropped scrolls, Naruto noticed that one had the time stamp that he was looking for. "Miss, can I please read this scroll?" Naruto asked, and before she could reply, scooped up the scroll and ran off to find a nice quiet corner with a table or chair to read at or in, respectively. In his rush, he hadn't noticed the small animal also caught in the avalanche of scrolls, who was now buried in a pile of orange books.

Finding the table in the lobby, Naruto sat down before reading trying to find the info. He didn't have to search long however, not even past the first 5 sentences.

_In the year of 599, Ichi Asahi founded the village of Suna, as a home for wandering shinobi who didn't want to fight in the wars of 'all against all'. Within the next 10 years, he managed to attract over 300 people to settle in the village, despite it being located in the desert. In the year 613, Suna fought its first semi-major battle against invading shinobi from a western village, during the battle, Asahi demonstrated the bloodline limit his family inherited, the Magnetism Release, as he removed all the invaders weapons before giving them to his villagers to defend themselves with. While rumors that he was an angel sent, rather than born, it still begs the question of who or where were his parents? No one ever laid claim to him with evidence to back it up, in fact Asahi said that his father trained him for 13 years, and on the eve of his 18__th__ birthday, his father took him out to the desert to see the moon and left him there with one command, raise a powerful kingdom._

"Wow, so the founder and first Kazekage of Suna was the son of Ichibi, probably hence the surname Ichi, not only that, but no one is even aware of it besides me, and I only believe it because I was there." Naruto said aloud, leaning back in his chair, before feeling a weight on his chest. Opening his eyes, Naruto saw Pakkun sitting there,"Kakashi sent me with a message, but I never could catch up with you. Kakashi says, Kankuro has been purified, and is expected to regain consciousness soon, so hurry over to his room for a briefing!" Pakkun said, before bounding off back to Kakashi.

Righting his chair, Naruto grabbed the scroll before running towards the door, dropping the scroll in a check-in box on his way out before leaping along roofs towards the hospital.

(30 minutes later)

Finally, regaining consciousness, Kankuro noticed the shinobi gathered around him. Taking in his sister's happy face, before she hugged him and Naruto and friends standing slightly off to the side with elder Chiyo looking at Kakashi.

"I suppose an explanation is in order?" Kankuro said, before coughing violently as Temari hugged her younger brother too tightly.

"Yes, preferably about the two Akatsuki-nin you pursued and the one you fought." Kakashi answered before falling silent again to listen.

"Well, the one that fought against Gaara used some kind of explosives, and could make massive clay replicas to fight with. However, more importantly, the one I fought was a former Suna-nin elite. I'm sorry Elder Chiyo, it was Sasori. He picked me apart as if I was using paper dolls to fight with, which, I guess is to be expected when he was aware of all my puppets weakness, seeing as how he built them." Kankuro said, Chiyo stiffening at the mention of her Nuke-nin grandson, "But, I still managed to get a piece of his cloak to track him with. Also, I couldn't get much on his fighting style; he didn't use any puppet, rather a metal tail/whip that was poisoned to beat me and my puppets." Kankuro concluded before mumbling under his breath, low enough that only Temari heard him, and hugged him tighter, telling him that it was okay.

"Okay, so we have a rebel Suna prodigy, a guy with an explosive personality, and whoever is waiting at their hideout. So, we should spend the night here, and leave in the morning. Be sure to be ready to leave at first light, and be ready for a hard day's run, because these buys have about a 3 days head start on us." Kakashi said, before a voice behind said, "I'll come with you. Sasori's my grandson, I taught him everything he knows, and it's my family's honor on the line here. Besides, I'm not part of your squad so you can't force me to stay here." Chiyo said with adamant determination.

With that Naruto and others dispersed to prepare for the run tomorrow and to find a place to sleep, but before Naruto left he sent one last thought out into the ether. _Kyuubi, when I get a free moment to speak with you, you have some questions to answer._

XxXxXxX- Konoha -XxXxXxX

"NO! I refuse to be married off to some old pervert. I love Naruto-kun; I won't marry out of necessity like you Father! Just because I don't match up to your perfect image doesn't give you the right to lord over my life and decide who I shall marry just to strengthen the clan's social position!" Hinata screamed at her father who for the most part ignored her. "It is obvious to everyone but you apparently, that that orphan demon doesn't love you." Hiashi retorted, before ducking under a strike from Hinata, barely avoiding it.

_Huh, it would seem that she is stronger than I gave her credit for. But, regardless, she still doesn't have what it takes to be clan heiress. Still, she managed to learn how to use the process of Jyuuken on her feet to speed her movements. Fine, she wants a spar; I'll give her one to send her packing. _Hiashi thought before slapping away another strike, before running from Hinata through the compound towards the central training area. Cutting through Hanabi's room, he noticed a massive shrine, surrounded with small orange books, caught off guard by the out of place assortment of objects, he skidded to a stop. Unable to dodge, Hinata did the most logical thing in her rage-addled mind, she kicked his balls.

…

…

…

"WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!?" Hiashi squealed in an extremely high pitched voice before hobbling on away from his daughter. Finding Neji's room, he opened and yelled out orders to the now returned Jounin, "Neji, you are to report to the central area for a spar with Hinata, and no arguing, this is a direct order from me as clan leader." Hiashi choked out, managing to repress the girlish voice from earlier before taking in the contents of Neji's room.

1. Neji was nude and performing things that would cause this to be a lemon.

2. His partner was wearing a skin-tight green body suit while twirling a whip around her finger.

3. Hanabi was sitting in the corner observing the pair with a straight face.

4. There may or may not have been a green wearing boy bouncing around singing "The Power of Youth"

5. A massive fuma shurikan was heading straight for him.

Ducking the shurikan, he slammed the door shut before taking off running again.

(30 minutes later)

Neji arrived at the central area for his spar to find a Hiashi being chased by 2 blunettes and a brunette, one for interrupting her private session, one for interrupting her homework, and one for yet to be determined reasons. After Hiashi disposed of Hanabi by threatening to tell her 'beloved' about the shrine in her room, and the other by offering to arrange a session with Neji on his off days, leaving only Hinata. Hiding behind Neji, Hiashi ordered him to defeat Hinata.

Not one to disobey the clan leader, Neji fell into his stance, Hinata, finally stopping, doing the same, activating their Byakugan. Rushing at each other, Hinata struck out first, and as Neji dodged, he struck back aiming for her outstretched arm. However, Hinata reached forwards, and high-fived his hand, thereby creating a battle of strength for dominance. Eventually, Neji started to gain the upper hand before Hinata to perform a midsection sweeping kick, connecting with Neji's side causing him to skid to the side, disconnecting the two. Pressing her advantage, she gave chase only for Neji, to dodge before striking her arm, closing thee of her chakra points, before having to jump back to avoid a palm thrust to his gut. Deciding to up the ante, he fell into a familiar stance, "You're within my field of divination, **8 trigrams: 64 palms**." Neji shouted before running towards Hinata to begin his jutsu. "2 palms, 4 palms, 8 palms, 16 palms, 32 palms, 64 palms!" Neji shouted as he ran through his series of palm thrusts, but Hinata was ready and with fluid grace managed to avoid some of the thrusts, before crouching on one knee to catch her breath. "Give up, Lady Hinata; it's not an actual fight, just a spar between to clan members." Neji said, breathing heavily as well.

"No, this is a fight that I can't afford to lose. It's a fight to defend my honor, and the honor of someone precious to me, so one won't give up until I succeed, Neji-Nissan." Hinata answered before rising, and assuming her stance again to resume the fight. Neji, set to defend himself, was surprised when Hinata assumed a different stance of the Jyuuken, one that he didn't recognize. Deciding instead to take the intuitive this time, he charged forward, doing a palm thrust to her gut to disable her, only her to, instead of sidestepping, dodging, or slapping the thrust away, step forwards into his personal space, before whispering her attack in his ear, "**8 trigrams:64 palms rebound**" and bringing her palm into her gut, her palm felt like she had performed the 64 palms jutsu, all in one spot, and, as if to prove this point, you could same with the naked eye, a large amount of chakra come out of Neji's back, resulting in a hole the shape and size of Hinata's open palm to appear in his robe. As he leaned forwards, Hinata caught him on her shoulder holding him up as he vomited blood on the ground. "Be glad, I only used 1/10th of the total chakra I could, or else your stomach would be tenderized meat." Hinata said with a calm, almost motherly tone.

Falling down on his knees, he wondered just how strong Hinata had became, if this was normal or if this was because she was defending her honor and that of her precious person.

"Huh, Neji, I'm disappointed in you. Losing to someone not even worthy of being a member of our clan any longer, maybe I should banish you with her?" Hiashi said, contemptively, causing Neji to jump to his feet to continue the fight. "Is this what you meant by, defending my honor, Lady Hinata-sama?" Neji asked, falling back into his stance, ready to continue the fight.

"Yes, Neji-Nissan, Father feels it would be more beneficial to the clan if I'm married off to some old clan leader to raise the clan's reputation. So please don't continue this fight." Hinata said, already dropping back to her stance, knowing that her request fell on not deaf, but unable to obey ears. "Lady Hinata-sama, you are now aware that, as you gained such power through defending your honor, now I will follow suit and gain power in defending my honor to remain a member of this family, even it is as a member of the cursed branch family." Neji answered, before resuming their fight.

Not wanting to fall again, Neji gave his all, resorting to even using his new jutsu "**8 trigrams: Air Palm**", but Hinata, wanting to prove she wasn't weak, refused to give an inch in their fight. Their spar turned fight of defending honor went on past sunset, each fighter never refusing to go down, even after powerful blows had been struck against them. Their fight was so even-matched that often times, they would result in an explosion of chakra, and hole being creating. The fight was now approaching hour 7, and the only signs of combat between the two were the loss of Neji's robe, and Hinata's discarded jacket at the climax of hour 5. In keeping a competitive spirit, they had a 5 minute break after every hour to rest and use the facilities.

Attracting the attention of more and more Hyuugas of both main and branch families to watch their fight, many wondered why Hinata hadn't already taken over Hiashi's position with her strength, and why Neji was a branch member when he fought better than most main family members. After the eve of hour 10, Hanabi made an observation that she planned to rectify if she was made clan leader, "Regardless of victor or loser, strength or weakness, male or female, the old regime of our clan will doom one to a fate that the other would never wish on them."

Finally, on the climax on hour 12, each fighter feeling the brink of unconsciousness pulling, and seeing it in the other fighter decided to put it all on one jutsu, and so with that they attacked. Neji performing his Kaiten, with Hinata jumping on top of him, and performing her Kaiten: Reversal. With a loud explosion, and a hole to could pass as an empty pond, the two fighters were thrown apart, colliding with bystanders before standing again, and charging at each to finish them off. As they neared each other however, there strength gave out, and they fell, ironically against each other, preventing either from falling to the ground.

_Huh, they both gave more than I thought. Still, this is perfect, I can dispose of Hinata now that she can't fight back, and Neji when Hinata is married. Hokage requested Neji for a mission, an hour ago, so it will have to wait until he gets back, but it will happen. I am clan leader and therefore my orders must be followed to the letter._

XxXxXx-Omake 1-xXxXxX

Hanabi was now safely back in her room, and making sure that no one could see her, she opened the door to her shrine, before beginning to talk to it.

"Hey, I miss you. I don't know why you ran away but I promise that I will bring you back. I know you have issues with a certain blonde but I promise that he won't touch a single hair on your little black head. And hey, guess what, now that the snake is dead, you don't have to stay away. I promise to keep that pink-haired banshee away from you and to sleep with you every night until _that_ happens. But please come back soon my lovely little Uchiha." Hanabi finished with a purr.

Turning to leave and observe Hinata and Neji's fight she closed the door, but not before kissing the picture of her beloved pet, Midnight the Cat.

**A/N: Hey guys, I rushed to get this one finished for you guys since I will be on vacation for a while and my writing schedule will be shot until I get back. **

**Also, to my first reviewer, I am aware of that Akatsuki cloaks have red clouds, Naruto will address this issue later, but since it's not really a major plot changer, I will go ahead and tell you. They wear robes with blue clouds just because they can. **

**Plus while I'm on the topic of major plot changes, I will give you a hint in honor of my first reviewer and favorite and follower, it will involve seals, there I said it, and before you complain about it, this is my fic, that I have to hide from my mother or else I'll get grounded for like a month, so how would you feel about a month without moi? You probably wouldn't care but that's beside the point. So yeah, see you later.**


	9. Lights

**The Lights in Your Eyes**

As they leapt through the forest trees in an effort to track Sasori's smell after leaving the desert, silence seemed to envelope the awkward group of three Konoha-nin, one Suna-elder-nin, and one ninja dog riding on Naruto's shoulder's, giving directions. Yet, tension also seemed to permeate from each person, from fear, excitation, or reuniting. One person seemed to want to ask a question but didn't want to seem insensitive. However, this feeling didn't last for long as she threw caution to the wind and asked the question.

"Just why is a Konoha shinobi, a Genin no less, worried about the Kazekage and even offering to help. If a Kage level shinobi couldn't win, what makes you think you can do anything? At least Pinkie over here can heal and nullify poisons if needs be." Chiyo asked catching the blonde's attention.

"I'm here because I'm his friend, and friends try to help each other, even when the threat is death, especially if the threat is death!" Naruto answered, leaning forward so that his bangs over shadowed his blue eyes.

"Haha, I wasn't born yesterday, in case you couldn't tell. Don't think for a second that you can fool me, gaki! People like him don't have 'friends', they have 'users'!" Chiyo retorted before stopping like Naruto in front of her.

"…You're wrong…" Naruto mumbled, just loud enough to reach Chiyo's ears.

"What's that, gaki?" Chiyo said back in a demanding tone.

Turning back to face the three, Naruto said, with tears streaming down his face, "I said, you would think a senile bat like you would be wiser concerning matters about her **savior**. I said you're **wrong** if you believe that **trash** you're spouting. I **said** that mentality is the **exact **reason why I **had **to **come**, **to show that Gaara isn't a weapon." **He paused before turning away and tensing his legs to jump away.

**"**That he's a person just as much, as you and me. That he is better than **your **traitor of a grandson, because even when Gaara saw all those looks, he didn't plot to **kill **you, but rather to **protect** you! You call him leader, yet you don't know his full heritage, the loins that he was born from, nor the sire of his family! I said that no one could ever hope to understand him on the level that I do!" He finished before releasing the tension in his legs in a great leap, actually breaking the tree limb he was standing on. Not quite understanding the situation, Chiyo turned towards Kakashi as they resumed chasing Naruto, who by this time had a significant lead on the trio.

"What does that gaki mean 'no one can hope to understand him on the level I do'?" Chiyo asked, not liking being left out and feeling like she stuck her foot in her mouth, despite the fact that Naruto had just insulted her beloved grandson.

"What he means, and this is a SS-class secret in our village, so never speak of it Sakura, is that he's the same as Gaara. So he understands the loneliness better than most that Gaara experienced, and as such, didn't want Gaara to go through life with his old belief system of 'proving' himself, so Naruto beat him, and showed him the strength of fighting for your precious people." Kakashi answered before catching sight of Naruto ahead, tears streaming behind him.

"Wait, you're telling me that Konoha sent its only 'ultimate weapon' to aid in the rescue of another even though we're tracking the Akatsuki, a group capturing the 'ultimate weapons'? Why?" Chiyo asked, beginning to question her belief that the Bijuu were just weapons to be used at their master's leisure.

"Why? Why what? Why would they do that? Why would he want to come? Why does Gaara accept him as a friend?" Kakashi asked back, already within 50 feet of Naruto, who was slowing down to allow them to catch up.

"All three. And what did he mean, 'your savior'?" Chiyo asked, her voice dying in her throat at the coming answers.

"Because, one, Naruto is one of our strongest fighters, two, as he said, Gaara is his friend, and that's just how he is for his friends, and three, Naruto has one of the most powerful weapons available to any shinobi. Finally, he speaks from personal experience with those words. He feels Gaara and himself, along with the other jinchuurikis are saviors because they were given the task of jailing a demon, without their consent, and yet they accept the responsibility, and don't break the seal and release the demon upon people that see them as the demon incarnate." Kakashi answered before answering the question about to leave Chiyo's mouth, "And this weapon I speak of is the ability to turn others to his side, to make them trust him with their burdens, and through that, gaining more precious people that inspire him to get stronger. However, the comment about Gaara's true heritage does spark some interest in me as well, that is a question that only Naruto can answer." Kakashi finished, landing next to Naruto, who, without acknowledging their presence, jumped down out of the trees, onto a plain, running towards the Akatsuki hideout.

XxXxX-Akatsuki Hideout-XxXxX

(1 Day Later)

The sealing process had begun, now the wait was on. Sasori and Deidara were aware that someone would most likely try to reach the hideout in an effort to stop them, which was why Leader had used Itachi and Kisame to stop both approaching parties. Even with the undeniable probability of invaders coming, most had grown bored and had begun to idlely gossip among themselves, one of the chief topics being the recent invasion of Konoha by the Yin-Yang pair, with the leading of 'The Polymer'. Most had expected him to bring back the target, but he just said that there was an unexpected problem. Deciding that this would be the best time to get some answer from the three that had failed to retrieve the 9-tails.

"So, he was too much for someone of your caliber to beat. I suppose that that's no surprise, but if you ever hope to avenge your family, you'll have to step up your game, Deidara's already got his kill, and plans are being made to capture the next target." Kisame retorted towards the man.

"Oh, shut up before you get turned into fried fish, and speaking of fish, how comes locating the Sanbi, have we managed to locate it?" The woman retorted in the place of the man.

"All attempts to locate the Sanbi have been met with failure, so currently; we are going to wait until we have some of the others before making a move against it." A man with rippled eyes answered before turning his attention towards Itachi. "And how went the battle with 9-tails and company, were you able to beat them back long enough for us to finish the sealing, it would be a shame to lose the Ichibi now, after all that hard work."

A man with his eyes shut, opened them to show the Sharingan. "Well, they managed to beat my replicate after about five hours, but I learned so interesting things from the battle. Here, let me tell you about it." Spoke the figure, before recounting his side of the battle.

XxXxX-With Naruto-XxXxX

(1 Day Ago)

As Naruto ran across the open field towards the Akatsuki hideout, he noticed a black-clad figure in his way. Dodging an incoming kunai, he skidded to a stop to wait for the rest of his team to arrive. Not to be let down, they arrived within the next ten seconds, coming to a stop beside Naruto to fully take in their opponent, Itachi Uchiha.

"Hello, Naruto, so nice to see you again. And Kakashi, how are your eyes these days?" Itachi said in his regular monotonous voice.

"I suppose I don't need to tell you not to look into his eyes, or can I convince you to leave this to me while you go on ahead to rescue Gaara?" Kakashi said, ignoring Itachi's question. Already knowing Naruto's answer, he slid his headband up to reveal his one Sharingan eye.

"Haha, I can't leave you to do this alone and even if I could, something tells me that teme's brother over there wouldn't just let me by." Naruto answered, pulling out a kunai to fight with.

"You are correct, Naruto." Itachi answered, not even moving to prepare for the coming battle. "Yet, you better hurry, because just as a reward for your bravery, I'll tell you something. Gaara only has about a day and a half left, and you're still a day away. It would be a shame if something were to happen to him, like him say, dying." Itachi continued, trying to bait Naruto.

Naruto, usually not one to be baited, charged forward to begin the fight.

"Hey, remember, don't look into his eyes, and watch his feet to guess where he's going to and what he will do." Kakashi called after his advancing student, before taking off after him to help fight Itachi.

Itachi, bringing up a kunai to block Naruto's strike, created a sealess shadow clone to run past them and engage in battle with Kakashi. Pushing Naruto back, Itachi ran past him to double team Kakashi.

Naruto, not one to miss a chance to attack Itachi, threw his kunai, hitting Itachi right in his back, causing him to rupture into crows, surprising Naruto. Still in confusion, he could do nothing stop the Itachi clone from stabbing Kakashi. As he fell to his knees, Kakashi turned and looked at Naruto with a look of disappointment, "Why didn't you save me Naruto? Why didn't you save Sasuke when you had the chance? Were we nothing more than stair steps for you to use to climb higher?" Kakashi asked, before coughing up blood, and falling still.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto screamed, his spell broken as he ran to his teacher's side, yelling orders to Sakura. "Sakura-chan, come help me save him!" Naruto yelled, trying to staunch the blood flow.

Slowly walking to her teammate and teacher's side, she looked down before making a fist. Still filled with the all enveloping emotion known as grief, Naruto didn't even see the hit coming, not like he could've stopped it anyways, as Sakura punched him in the face, sending him flying back against a tree. "This is all your fault Naruto. Why did you stab him?!" Sakura yelled, before running over to Naruto's downed body.

"What?" Naruto asked, now confused once again before he was sent flying by a well placed kick to his ribs, causing him to cough up blood.

"Don't even try to play dumb, dobe. She didn't hit you that hard." Came a familiar voice from the shadows of the forest.

Turning towards the voice, Naruto tried desperately to stand up, only to fall back to the ground as Sakura ran off towards the voice. Then there was a pregnant pause, followed by the slithering of steel on steel, then finally, the squelching sound of flesh being cut.

"Naruto tried to kill my brother? Really, well he should have known better than to believe that an ANBU captain would leave an opening that big on accident. He completely fell for Itachi's trick, thinking he was throwing it at his exposed back, he never considered that he was throwing it in the same exact place as Kakashi's open back." The voice said, before the speaker walked out of the shadows, revealing Sasuke Uchiha, just as Naruto remembered him all those years ago, carrying Sakura's decapitated head in one hand, and a bloody katana in the other.

Pushing himself up, he pulled out another kunai, before charging forwards and slashing Sasuke's exposed throat. "I thought you could come back to us now that the snake is dead?" As Sasuke fell to his knees, holding throat, he asked a question that scared Naruto. "Why Naruto, was killing our sensei not enough? Maybe you are the demon. At least Sasuke never killed any of his comrades." Sasuke spoke, but instead of his voice, Sakura's came out, and as he blinked, gone was Sasuke's body, now replaced by Sakura's with her throat a gaping red maw.

"Well well, it would appear that someone is taking after their captive, or better yet are you the captive? At least I had a reason for killing my family, what's your excuse?" Itachi's voice floated over to Naruto from a tree, where the elder Uchiha stood against it.

Running towards him to kill him, Naruto ran into cage bars. Itachi just outside of his reach, he pulled out yet another kunai, before hurling at Itachi, the kunai skewering his chest, causing him to fall to his knees, and in the flow of his cloak, he changed into three little children, one of whom had a kunai sprouted from his chest. "Aniki, what did I do to deserve this. Are you doing this to get rid of your competition for Hokage, just like Orochimaru tried to do?" Little Konohamaru asked, blood pouring from his wound as his two companions, Moegi and Udon, stood crying. "What do we do now, our goal in life was to help Konohamaru achieve his dream and now that's gone?" Moegi asked, sniffling. "I think we should kill the demon, it's all his fault!" Udon suggested, before the two ran off to collect a mob to kill Naruto, who had fallen down and curled up in the fetal position.

At this point, Naruto wanted nothing more than someone to hold him close and warm his cold body, and as if responding to their master's wishes, nine red-orange tails wound around his body, and his pointed ears folded in on themselves to show his sadness. Hearing an annoying young voice, Naruto stood to his feet, but not having the strength to stand tall, just stayed down on his hands and knees.

"Hey, you demon fox, since you're my tenant, I demand rent in the form of your chakra!" Demanded a young boy's voice. "Shut up you brat, don't make me kill you. As soon as I can figure out how to get out of this condemned cage, I'm going to take over your body and kill all your precious people while you watch. The only reason I'm giving you my chakra now is because if you die then so do I." Retorted the massive fox, before red chakra seeped out to surround the blonde boy in front of him.

With that, the fox closed his eyes while he tried to maintain his sanity. As he opened his eyes, this time he was standing on two feet, with shackles wrapped around his wrists attached to two black pillars, with Itachi standing in front of him, just outside of his reach, while behind him, his tails were rampaging, slapping aside incoming attacks from unseen assailants, however as they were sent flying, Naruto could see each and every one as they flew through the air, dead. Tsunade, Jiriya, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Lee, Inari, Temari, Kankuro, and strangely, himself.

"You are just what they say. A demon that kills any one that gets too close to his heart. Even yourself, haha, how ironic, you're fighting yourself. Itachi said, laughing at the confined boy.

"Fighting myself,…that's…it…I'm fighting my own fears, you're behind this, none of those things were real, only you playing around in my mind. You were following my memory from the Kyuubi all those years ago, the Kyuubi even tried to tell me that. So to overcome your sick games, I just have to think what I said all those years ago, and believe them with all my heart." Naruto said, before beginning to pull on the shackles.

"I'm not weak." _Chhh _"I'm not the demon."_ Shhh _"I won't be beat now."_ Chhhh _"Not when all my friends are waiting on me." _Shhhh _"The only true shackles are the ones you put on your self!"_ CHHHHH _"The only key needed is your belief in yourself!"_ SHHHHH _"You won't win now because my strength is not the strength of one, but of the multitude of my precious people that support my with **their** beliefs in me, so how **can I lose when losing isn't an option!**"_ CRACK _and with that, the pillars turned white and shattered, freeing Naruto to freely attack Itachi.

Leaping on to his body, Naruto opened his jaws and brought them down on Itachi's neck, ripping it out. However, not wanting his revenge to end that quickly, he allowed the Kyuubi's chakra to flow into his body, healing his wounds, but burning his body from the inside out.

Then, taking control of his mind scape, Naruto changed it to a scale-model of Konoha before resuming the mental fight with Itachi who now wielded a katana. "Haha, just give up now Naruto, we're still inside my Tsukiyomi for the next two days, even you can't maintain control for that long." Itachi said before swinging his sword in an attack to slash Naruto. However, Naruto was not about to let him have control again and met the sword with his tail, and bringing another around to stab Itachi's shoulder, knocking him back.

"Who said I had to last two more days, I just have to kick you out, which even if it takes the two days, I will do!" Naruto yelled back before his appearance changed, aging to the body of an 18-year-old, with a large jug of sake on his back.

Rushing forward Naruto kept up the attacks, each one more fierce than the last, until at last Naruto was attacking with all nine tails, plus claws while holding the jug of sake in his mouth drinking throughout the battle. While he was unscratched, Itachi was a mess, his clothes shredded, his hair blown around, his breathing heavy, and his sword shattered. Naruto, deciding that this fight had went on for long enough, ran forwards, his tails billowing out behind him to form a **Rasengan,** which slowly grew larger by the second until Naruto spun around and slammed the ball of chakra into Itachi's body before yelling "**Odama Rasengan!"**, throwing him back into a portal spawned by Naruto's imagination.

With that, Naruto opened his eyes to find himself back on the field with Itachi running towards Kakashi to finish him off. Naruto, reacting faster than ever before leapt to Kakashi's side and kicked away the clone. The 'real' Itachi however, fell while still in motion, causing him to skid to a stop before rolling out of the way of a descending kunai wielded by Kakashi.

"How did you manage to beat my Tsukiyomi?" Itachi asked, a migraine headache pounding at his head.

"I told you in that realm didn't I." Naruto retorted, ignoring the incredulous stares by the others.

"Yes you did, but someone of your caliber shouldn't be able to obtain that level of mental control." Itachi said, pushing himself into a standing position.

"In most cases, that would be true, but I'm not the standard case, am I?" Naruto asked, spreading his arms in a questioning manner, as a smirk grew on his face.

"I suppose, unless this a side effect of the Kyuubi?" Itachi said, not actually considering that option.

"Ding, ding, ding, the Uchiha wins the prize. You are correct, I mean come on, 16 years I've had to deal with a massive, psychotic demon in my head, daily torture by villagers that I had vowed to protect, and lack of companionship. I had to cope some how in order to retain my mental state, my one true recluse. Oh the irony, I have the mental capacities to be a Genjutsu prodigy, but my lack of chakra screwed me over. After all, I wasn't given a magical eye that glows red, and lets me create mass Genjutsu." Naruto stated, rather proud to finally have his mental creativity and strength acknowledged.

"But, more on that later, I believe we were fighting." Naruto finished, pulling out another kunai to fight with, creating two **Shadow Clones** to help fight.

Charging forwards with his clones trailing, he began to fiercely battle the weakened Uchiha, however, he wasn't the youngest ANBU captain for nothing, as even with the migraine pounding, he managed to defend himself with his katana and Sharingan, even if one of his most powerful skills was blocked by his deadly dance partner. Growing tired of the back and forth blade fight, Itachi changed their fight from Taijutsu aided by blades to Ninjutsu, where he could overpower Naruto.

Throwing a kick at Naruto, who jumped back, Itachi did a quick set of hand seals before thinking his jutsu's name, "**_Great Fireball Jutsu!_**" before a massive fireball came out of his mouth heading straight for Naruto, who was still in the air.

Quickly creating another **Shadow Clone**, he had it throw him out of the path of the jutsu, which enveloped the clone, dispelling it.

Meanwhile, Kakashi had snuck up on Itachi before reaching up and pulling him under the dirt up to his head, which, despite his predicament, still had it's emotionless expression. Popping up, Kakashi muttered, "**Double Decapitation Jutsu**" before Itachi once again ruptured into crows which swarmed together before turning to attack Kakashi who ran through the hand seals just used by Itachi, breathing in and thinking, "**_Great Fireball Jutsu_**" before breathing out and, just like Itachi, a massive fireball came out of his mouth, destroying the crows, before Kakashi back flipped away, dodging the **Henge'd** kunai and shurikans that almost hit him.

Keeping him on his toes, Itachi used another set of hand seals before breathing in and thinking, "Phoenix**_ Flower Jutsu_**" breathing out, sending multiple smaller, but faster fireballs raining down on Kakashi.

Kakashi, thinking quickly, used the supply of water from a nearby pond in the forest, which held only enough water for one water-style jutsu, for his jutsu hoping to make it in time. "**Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu**" yelled Kakashi as a dragon made up of the stagnant water rose up to defend and counteract Itachi's attacks.

While Kakashi and Itachi were engaged in a struggle for control, Naruto snuck up behind Itachi, and began his attack of throwing several shurikans low to the ground, created a **Shadow Clone** before **Henge**ing into a Fuma shurikan, which the clone held, ready to throw it. As the shurikans flew towards Itachi's feet, he jumped up, fore barrel rolling in mid air to avoid the incoming few at his height, however, as the shurikans dispelled their **Henge** to turn back into **Shadow Clones**, one of which performed an upper kick, sending Itachi's body higher as the other clones followed, kicking his body higher.

The **Shadow Clone **then threw the Naru-Fuma shurikan up towards Itachi's free flying body. As it passed harmlessly overhead, it released it's **Henge** finishing the combo attack with a falling axe kick, yelling "**Uzumaki Barrage**" sending Itachi plummeting down into the ground, before Naruto followed. As he fell, however, he created two **Shadow Clones** behind him, which began molding and supplying the chakra for Naruto's finisher. "**Giant Rasengan**" Naruto shouted, before reaching terminal velocity, and crashing the giant ball of swirling blue chakra into Itachi's exposed back, shredding his clothes, and breaking his spinal column, paralyzing him from the neck down, but not killing him.

Finally able to stop and catch their breath, Kakashi and Naruto crouched down beside the defeated ANBU captain turned traitor.

"Haha, I lost." Itachi mumbled, a trace of a smile at the corners of his mouth, before Naruto flipped in over to face them.

"Yeah, _you_ did, but not Itachi." Kakashi said, standing.

"What do you mean Kakashi?" Naruto said, still crouched.

"I mean, that isn't the real Itachi, a true Uchiha's fire style attacks wouldn't be that weak. If I had to guess, I would say this is a powerful variation of the clone jutsu, with maybe a possession jutsu, since they don't dispel. Of course, this way, they could test villages and jinchuuriki's strength without actually putting themselves in danger. Like he said when we showed up, Gaara doesn't have long, this was just a detour to hold us up." Kakashi said, before turning and preparing to leave.

"Haha, he figured it out. I can't dispel unless I'm actually killed. However before I die, could you tell me what you meant by, 'now that the snake is dead' when you were in my Tsukiyomi?" Itachi said, with a sincere smile.

"Oh, you didn't know, that little girl helped Sasuke kill him and take his power. I would think that news like that would spread quickly, but maybe not. Either way, Orochimaru is dead at Sasuke's hand, so now he has more power and is probably coming for you." Naruto answered before smiling.

"What's so funny?" Itachi asked, not getting the joke.

"Your eyes, they lit up when I said that Sasuke is still alive. I bet you didn't leave Sasuke alive for the reasons everyone says, I bet that you, even when faced with death, wouldn't and couldn't bring yourself to harm a single hair in Sasuke's head. I protective big brother to your grave, huh? Don't worry; I won't mention it to the others, maybe to Sasuke if I see him, not like he'll believe me." Naruto answered, before pulling out a kunai to finish off the Itachi body.

Bending over to whisper in his ear, "You may try to be emotionless, but your eyes are more telling than anything, like the way they shrunk down when I guessed at why you left Sasuke alive, which brings me to believe that I guessed wrong, that you wanted to leave him alive but, there were extenuating circumstances, like perhaps, the slaughter was a secret mission. I don't even have to look at your eyes to know that I'm right, because let me tell you something. When I was 12, I, fully clothed in an orange jumpsuit, similar to this one, broke into the Hokage's quarters, evaded 3 full squadrons of ANBU in said jumpsuit after stealing the Secret Scroll. After which, I read the first jutsu, which was the "Shadow Clone" which most were familiar with, what they didn't know, was that contained on the next segment was a seal lock, with a blood seal, for reasons I don't know yet, it unlocked for me. Inside was a scroll, of SS-class missions assigned, yours was first on the list, but being a loyal ninja, I put the scroll back, re-sealed it and never told anyone about it. But, Itachi, you didn't deserve the treatment you got for following the council's orders, and if it's the last thing I do, I will bring you back and have your innocence proclaimed." Naruto finished and before Itachi could respond, plunged the kunai into his hand, and through Itachi's heart, killing him.

"Haha, oh memories, once again, I make a promise on this wound to keep." Naruto mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, nothing, I just said, perhaps I should've removed my hand before I stabbed him." Naruto answered.

XxXxX- Akatsuki Hideout -XxXxX

(End Flashback)

"So, he has grown in strength." Pain said, "Nevertheless, he will be brought before us by God's hand." Pain concluded.

"More importantly, why didn't we know that Orochimaru was dead, I would have liked his body for my puppet collection, oh the irony, to be immortalized." Sasori said, before turning towards the little figure of a girl.

"Just your luck then, that I left you a scroll with his body sealed inside in to commemorate for your team getting their target. Oh, don't get all upset Deidara; I left you something too, although yours was more of an idea to use as you will." The young girl voice said, from within the seemingly infinite folds of her robes.

And with that declaration, Gaara's body fell limp, as he died, his red hair splayed around, and his arms looking like broken twigs.

XxXxXxXx- (1 Day Later) - xXxXxXxX

After arriving to find a massive boulder in their way, Naruto's team was forced to wait for some back up, which arrived in the form of Team Gai, who had been ready to help in breaking the seal arrangement.

Now the moment had arrived, and as they removed their seals, Sakura ran forward and smashed the boulder to rubble, followed almost immediately by trapped air escaping and bringing with it, the quietude one puts with death, and as they entered, leaving Team Gai to fight their fights, they saw that indeed, there was death in the form of Gaara of the Sand.

XxX - Forest - XxX

As he ran with the utmost haste, the man was trailed by his wife and daughter as they rushed to reach the Akatsuki hideout. They had traveled long and hard in order to reach this cave, and now that they arrived, all they could do was wait for the fights to end. Deciding that her skills would be used better elsewhere, Ika headed off to assist the young 'blind' boy as she said.

_Okay Naruto, let's see if you have what it takes to beat Deidara, possibly the weakest of us. I even helped you, something you wouldn't have got unless I believed in you. _"Well, I would say we have about an hour and a half until all this fighting is over, want to play role-play?" He said, before the fire went into her cheeks, lighting them red, nodding yes.

**A/N: I'm back, and in response to my previous statement. The order has been rescinded, whatever that means, and I just wanted to say it. But yeah, turns out, my mom doesn't give a flying tuna fish about my writing, and actually encouraged me to pursue a creative outlet. So caring, my mother, but yeah, in all seriousness, I am sorry for the week long wait, I did say I was going on vacation, which I had fun on( thanks for asking ) and I was swimming in the ocean when a shark bit off my arm, figuratively, because, idiot me, I sprained my arm by slipping on a bar of soap. So, soap fall vs. shark attack survivor? I also am considering starting a new story, or two, one an X-over, so wish me inspiration.**


	10. Death or Rebirth

**Death or Rebirth, Fate or Destiny?**

Walking into the dark cave was a trial of passage for some, but not the blonde boy in front of his squad that had been dispatched to assist in the rescue of the Kazekage, Gaara no Subaka, if assist was the right word, more like carry all the weight.

As he charged recklessly into the swallowing blackness, he could sense it in the air, almost as if the rocks that made up the cave were grieving the death of Gaara. Seeing Gaara's downed form, Naruto ran to it only to have to jump back to avoid an incoming attack, an explosion that went off a second later, right where Naruto would've landed, sending Gaara's body flying back into the darkness..

"Haha, I would guess that you are the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, come to rescue your little red head? Well, too bad! He's dead, and you can't have his body!" A voice said, before torches seemed to light up by themselves, illuminating the room. Two figures stood on other side of the room, both cloaked in black robes with red clouds, with straw hats on their heads. One was hunched over, while the other was standing, with his hands seemingly rummaging in his pouches by his side. This one appeared to be the one that spoke, and as he pulled his hands out, he opened one to reveal a miniature clay sculpture of a bird, before he made a hand seal with the other hand, enlarging the sculpture and bringing it to life.

As he jumped onto the back of his model, it began flapping its wings, before running forwards and picking up Gaara's body in its beak before spiraling upwards, and as he made more clay sculptures that flew ahead, they exploded, bringing down some debris, before the large bird flew out of the newly made hole.

Turning around, Naruto leapt out back through the door/hole to give chase to retrieve Gaara's body, with Kakashi taking off after him to keep him out of trouble.

"Ughh, that blonde idiot better not kill the target, we still need him for our plan. Not only that, but he already had his turn, does he ever think I may want to have some fun? NO!" The hunched figure complained, before jumping back to dodge a punch from Sakura, and a good thing he did, as the ground concaved. Reacting quickly, Sakura dodged under a thrust from the metal tail that would've pierced her chest. Jumping back, throwing two kunai at Sasori, which were easily blocked by the metal tail that swayed back and forth, ready to defend or attack.

"Hey, Granny Chiyo, do you have any idea how to get around that metal tail, and why he's isn't using any puppets like he should?" Sakura asked, before the woman turned to answer her, never fully taking her eyes off the crouched figure and its tail.

"He is using a puppet, that figure is a puppet, one of Sasori's best. Haruko was its name I believe, but either way, its main weapon and shield is that tail, and considering poison was something he got from me, he most likely has it and all his weapons coated in highly toxic poison, so be careful. If we want to even get a shot at him, we will have to get rid of that tail, and then destroy that puppet, driving out Sasori." Chiyo answered before pulling out a string with kunai attached that floated in mid-air. "When I say run, I want you to attack him." Whispered the elder in Sakura's ear.

Sakura nodded, before falling into a ready to move position, with her legs tensed, and arms hanging at her side. Seeing the signal, Chiyo stepped forward to engage Sasori before sending all ten kunai flying around in different directions, using the string to direct them towards Sasori. As his tail twisted around to counter all the projectiles, his taunting voice altered by the puppets mouth piece yelled accusations, "How nice to see you again, _baa-chan_ after all these years. Did you finally decide to check on me to notice that I was gone? All I wanted was a family, and all you would give me was cold indifference. You may have thought that you were helping me by not insulting me, but I could see the looks you gave me. If it wasn't pity, it was hatred; you blamed me for your child's death. You should've been blaming the Shukaku, but you blamed me. You would teach me about puppets, then get upset when I didn't do something right. Most critically were _those two_ puppets that I made, I thought you would like them but, NO, you just slapped me and told me to grow up."

"How can you think that, I never hated you, you were my grandson, and I loved you as such, even when you left the village for your personal reasons. I taught you about puppets with such methods because I knew that you would be the next clan head, and I wanted you to be respected and acknowledged for your own skills not my name. Those two puppets were even so innocent that I worried that you would become like so many good shinobi that fell away, and become swallowed up by grief for your lost parents, I truly just wanted your happiness." Chiyo answered, her voice cracking at times with her emotions.

"Well, you showed it funny, but no matter now. I have risen to achieve immortality in all but spirit so leave now before you get killed, this coming war is no place for elders whose place is teaching the younger generation, even one such as yourself could impart such wisdom if you don't throw your life away now." Sasori's altered voice shouted back, becoming slowly colder.

"No, grandson, I won't turn away. I'm not like others that want only to live one more day, I believe that when it is time, you shouldn't fight it and it will come peacefully, and if it isn't a something will save you. I'm not you my beloved grandson, I won't _run_ away!" Chiyo answered, giving the signal before throwing another kunai.

With the signal given, Sakura ran forward, ducking low under the tail, and as it moved again to intercept her, it froze in place as Chiyo's string entangled it, holding it and Sasori in place, before Sakura jumped up high, bringing her fist down to break the puppets back, and hopefully kill Sasori. However, the puppets skin proved to be tougher than she expected and when it broke, she didn't have enough power left to seriously hurt Sasori, so instead she spun in mid-air, backhanding Sasori, sending him flying into a wall. The force however, was still strong enough to create an air wave that put out the torches and with the only light available was the door and the skylight created by Deidara's exit, she didn't see the attack that cut deep into her arms as she flew backwards into light that fell, before the torches relit and her eyes fell on her attacker, while Chiyo's eyes fell on her grandson, utterly surprised by his appearance.

"You, you can't be my grandson, not when you look like that." Chiyo said, slightly scared, and slightly astonished. However, what really attracted Sakura's attention was the figure standing next to him that had hit her.

"Ho-how can y-you be ALIVE!" She screamed before crawling back as she stared into the cold, yet still lifeless eyes that returned her stare.

XxXxX- With Naruto -XxXxX

As Naruto leapt from root to root while trying to catching the clay using blonde that was about 15 feet ahead of him, yet moving slightly faster than him, he would dodge explosive spiders and birds that Deidara tried to use to knock him out.

Dodging yet another explosion that destroyed the root he had just leapt from, Naruto turned to notice that his sensei was slowly lagging behind, whether from exhaustion or pain, Naruto couldn't tell. He did however realize that just because he was okay didn't mean anything for Kakashi's condition, because they needed him alive, not Kakashi.

Taking this into account, but not wanting to give up on getting Gaara back, Naruto threw a kunai at the fleeing form of Deidara, only for a clay bird to intercept it and blow up, sending the kunai back towards Naruto, who sidestepped it.

Not one to be deterred easily, he created a shadow clone before **Henge**ing into a kunai that the clone threw once again towards Deidara, and once again, a clay bird moved to intercept him, only for him to drop the **Henge** and throw another kunai at the bird, causing it to explode prematurely as Naruto continue onwards unstopped. As Kakashi watched from behind him, he couldn't help but notice that Naruto had grown significantly since the attack, not letting the defeat slow him down for one second. Even now, he could see that fighting an S-class shinobi had quickened his reflexes and battlefield tactics, the old Naruto would never have managed to overcome a disadvantage like that, more likely by pushing through and enduring the blows as they came.

Speeding up and dodging the explosive birds as they swept low to take him out, he slowly caught up to Naruto who had closed the gap to 10 feet, but now the opposition was fiercer than ever. Feeling a weight land on his shoulders, he substituted himself with a rock, which was captured in an explosion not 5 seconds later, but by that point, Naruto and Kakashi were far enough to weather the explosion that promptly followed.

After nearly an hour of chasing the ever flying Deidara, Naruto was beginning to worry if they would ever catch him. _He could just be baiting us into a trap with other Akatsuki members but how can I take the chance that I'm wrong and he'll escape with Gaara's body. If only we could take down that bird. He would probably just make another, but clay isn't an infinite resource, and I doubt he could have much left, maybe half a bags worth before he runs out. _Naruto thought before jumping over an explosive spider that attempted to cling to his sandals. While Naruto escaped the blow, Kakashi was a half-step behind him and the spider had blown up the root he was aiming to land on, causing him to misstep and tumble through the air, before hitting a root that knocked the breath out of his chest. Naruto's ears were still ringing, and he was moving too fast to hear Kakashi's cry of "Wait up!" Not noticing that he was now alone, Naruto charged onwards after Deidara before a figure leapt off the bird and made to intercept Naruto.

Throwing a kunai at the figure, it blocked with a sword that seemingly formed from nothingness. As the figure swung its sword down to attack Naruto, he jumped to the side, not expecting the explosion that occurred from the sword hitting the root, throwing him to the side. Spinning in mid-air, he landed his feet on the rock wall, before leaping at the figure that blocked his way. As the figure raised it's sword, Naruto ducked under its guard, kicking it off the root before putting all his strength into his next leap to escape the expected explosion that never came, as the figure landed on a lower root before two clay wings sprouted from its back and it gave chase to Naruto by flying, slowly and stealthily catching up to the blonde.

Making its move at a curve, it flew up behind Naruto and swung its sword in an attack that would've cleaved off his left arm. He barely had time to react and acting on impulse, pulled out a kunai to block with only to realize his mistake and drop the kunai which floated in mid-air for a second before exploding, shrapnel pelting his exposed arm. Luckily, not actually cutting him, it still stung. Grabbing his shoulder to brace himself, he dropped it, letting it slide along his arm in an up and down motion to fix the blood flow, which created an almost imperceptible amount of static electricity that traveled down his arm and into his hanging hand.

Deciding to try and once again put some distance between himself and the clay angel, Naruto grabbed a kunai with his free hand, only for the sparks to jump along the blade and carry with it when he threw the kunai which caught the clay angel's non-sword wielding hand, severing it. Surprised that it didn't explode like most of the sculptures, he then noticed the small sparks bouncing along his arm towards his hand. _Electricity, the explosions must be caused by an electrical impulse implanted into the clay by way of his molding. If I can get my new jutsu to work, maybe I can win this fight yet. But it's a broken jutsu, or is it? I'm getting the same sparks from static electricity, so what if I create static in both arms, and then use the jutsu? _Naruto thought before clutching both arms, and rubbing them, generating static. Sensing an attack coming, he jumped forwards, flipping upside down and backwards, facing the clay angel, before making the hand seals, and focusing the electricity to the tips, picturing the current flowing through the clay angel, and the electricity left his fingers in a small golf ball size electricity shot that pierced through the clay angel's heart, before it fell down to the ground, dead.

Turning to catch Deidara now, he began rubbing his entire body in an effort to create as much static as possible. Within 5 minutes, he had caught up to the fleeing clay bird, as had Kakashi who saw Naruto using his new jutsu, which he dubbed "**Electro Shot**", to shoot the bird through the wing, effectively bringing it down in a small clearing.

Running the short distance to the clearing, Naruto landed opposite to Deidara, who was patting himself down and rubbing his head. "Well, I didn't expect that. I guess I'll actually have to fight instead of tire you." Deidara said, before pulling his hands out of his pouches before muttering, "Just for your lack of appreciation over my art, I'll have to show you the true beauty of my C2 bombs." Before his hands spit out a small dragon, that Deidara grew into a massive Chinese style dragon that began circling the field, with Deidara laughing at the top of his lungs.

XxXxX- (With Neji) -XxXxX

Neji was having trouble fighting the replica of himself, still hurt and tired from his long fight with Hinata, and his more recent fight, if you could call it that, with Kisame's stand in, had caused him to begin to question himself and his abilities, despite the fact that he had impressed a fair amount of the Hyuuga Clan with his fight.

Ducking a thrust to his face, he attempted a jab at the fake's knees, before the fake jumped back, before jumping forward again, before planting his foot under Neji's chin, kicking him skywards. Jumping after him, the fake began striking at Neji in midair, who traded jabs back at the fake, before he landed on the ground, not missing a single strike. Slapping both palms away, he stepped forward to palm thrust both the fake's lungs, however, the fake wasn't about to give him to advantage, as it turned, taking one thrust in the bicep. Using his momentum though, it continued its spin, to backhand Neji, before it sent a palm thrust to his shoulder that sent Neji sprawling into a rock.

Standing back up and catching his breath, Neji was unprepared when the fake appeared in front of him and began a familiar dance that would end in Neji's defeat. "**8 Trigrams: 64 Palms**" was the only warning Neji received for the first blow came, stinging as it dug into his stomach. "1 palm, 2 palms, 4 palms, 8 palms, 16 palms, 32 palms, 64 pal-" said the fake as it called out shots, before being interrupted on the final shot as Neji regain a semblance of control and threw a kick that the fake dodged by jumping back. Sporting a disdainful frown, the fake charged back towards Neji, intending to finish him off once and for all, before Neji, with blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth, took up a new stance, before doing a single palm thrust in front of the fake before falling to his knees as the attack was sent, "**8 Trigrams: Air Palm**" as it hit the fake like a hand from heaven slapping him away into a tree, with his skull making a sickening _crack._

Rising to his feet, Neji took a few breathes before speaking into his somehow still functional earpiece, "Target is down." Before waiting for a response which came in the form of the others sounding off, "Same here," Tenten, "My power of youth has won!" Lee, "Affirmative." Gai, who continued talking, "Let's meet at the central clearing to recuperate before heading out to assist Kakashi, and his team."

"Okay." Was the resounding answer to his suggestion, and their conversation over for the moment, Neji removed his fingers from the speaker button, before leaping away towards the clearing, not noticing the shadowed figure trailing behind.

(10 minutes later)

Neji touched down in the clearing, walking towards his team mates who were sitting in a circle, eating rations and drinking water. As he ran towards them, a strong impact hit him in the back, sending him flying into their makeshift camp, catching their attention as he went rolling by. As he stood up and turned to face his attacker, his teammates followed suit, before their eyes widened in surprise. Five streams of liquid came out of the shadows, before pooling about 30 feet away. As they began to form, Neji's teammates braced themselves for a harsh fight once again, before the liquids finished reforming into their previous forms of Neji and his teammates.

As Neji charged towards his opponent, he saw a green blur in the corner of his eye, before he was sent flying into Tenten, who landed in a tangled heap with him, by Lee's fake. Standing once again, Neji saw that his and Tenten's fakes were fighting Lee, who was crouched, catching his breath. Turning his attention back to the fake in front of him, he attacked by throwing a kunai, before following after it. As the fake deflected it with a kunai of its own, Neji jumped up, catching the kunai before dropping down towards the fake, trying it impale the fake. Jumping out of the way, the fake was forced to quickly rotate on its heel to deflect the incoming weapons from Tenten, who had picked herself up and threw her self into the fight, throwing some kunai and shurikans at the fake. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Neji leapt at his exposed back, hoping to end this fight now. However, the clone quickly reacted, flipping over Neji, throwing kunai in his hand at Neji's now open back. Pulling out a kunai, Neji threw it to intercept the kunai coming for him, before charging at fake Lee.

Ducking at punch that he saw coming, he dropped to the ground to dodge the Leaf Hurricane that followed before sweeping his feet under fake Lee, catching him and tripping him. Reacting quickly, fake Lee planted one hand on the ground, before barrel rolling over to slam his foot into Neji's gut. Knocking breath out of Neji, the fake went for the kill with a strike to his face. Bringing his forearms up to try and block, Neji felt the attack break through, but the momentum had slowed enough that he moved his head to side, letting fake Lee punch the ground.

Jumping up to avoid the incoming retaliation palm thrust that he knew was coming, the fake was forced to tense his body as Neji rose before charging yet again. Moving faster than before, the fake slid into his guard before performing his uppercutting kick to the chin, launching Neji into the air, then appearing behind him, he unraveled his bandages, wrapping them around Neji, before beginning his downward, self deprecating spiral. "**Primary Lotus**" the fake Lee shouted, before smashing Neji's head into the ground, before leaping back.

Sensing an attack coming, the fake ducked, just in time to avoid Neji's palm thrust. Turning towards Neji's buried body, it disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Never take your eyes off your opponent!" Neji shouted, before kicking Lee in the stomach, sending him flying back into the pile of earth. "You're within my field of divination! **8 Trigrams: 64 Palms**" shouted Neji before beginning his jutsu. "1 palm, 2 palms, 4 palms, 8 palms, 16 palms, 32 palms, 64 palms!" Neji yelled, and on the last hit, the pile shattered, sending Fake Lee flying before skidding across the ground, finally stopping in a crumpled mess.

As fake Lee tried to stand, fake Neji slammed into his side, sending the both of them into a tree, followed by fake Gai impacting them, breaking the tree, with the three in a tangled mess as they groaned. Walking over to them to finish them off, Tenten bent over, reaching into her pouch. "Good work you guys, we got three of them." Gai said, catching his breath from the intense fight. "Yes, but where is the Tenten clone?" Neji asked, before turning towards Tenten, "Unless, STOP HER!" He yelled, already running towards Tenten, who turned to see what the commotion was. All she could say was, "Huh?" before Neji tackled her to the ground, as a bloody red gash appeared down his back, causing him to hiss in pain as the fake Tenten dropped down from the treetops with a bloody kunai in hand, which she dripped on her three downed comrades, who began glowing.

As the team opened their eyes, they widened in surprise and slight fear as before them was a monstrous being that looked like a mixture of all four of them. One half of its hair was in a bowl cut, the other half in a bun, with a ponytail hanging loosely in the back. Part of its mouth was caught in a permanent frown, with another part smiling brightly. One eye pearl, with another brown, with a massive unibrow. A jounin vest rested on its chest, with a white spandex shirt underneath, showing some slight cleavage. On its back was a giant scroll. Most creepily however, was its voice, which came out as a combination of all their voices. Falling into a strange stance with its neck to the side, with one hand in the air, one behind its back, down on one knee, with the other pressed against its stomach, the creature suddenly leapt forwards toward Neji's body.

Closing his eyes, preparing to feel the burning sensation of pain strike him, he never saw the figure that flew past his body, crashing into the sickening creature, which produced a _squelch_ before flying back into the clearing, Lee and Gai jumping aside.

"Spike, heel!" yelled a familiar voice before the savior landed on the ground, Gai and Lee tensing as they faced the robe clad figure of Ika. The creature turned towards the voice, ready to kill whoever thought they had the balls to call him by that degenerative name. As its maddened eyes swept over the figure, they widened before its scowling mouth changed into a smile before turning canine, as it ran towards the girl, transforming into a puppy on its way, bowling Ika over, causing her to let out a girlish squeal before a peal of laughter broke the solemn atmosphere.

Sensing the cold steel now located at the base of Ika's neck, the puppy began to growl before jumping away, transforming into a large dog. "Spike, I said heel, I don't want any excuses!" Ika yelled, before the dog begrudgingly walked over, whimpering. "Now then, shall we head back to help your teammates, the Pinkie is probably about to die, and Naru-kun will be getting tired?" Ika asked to no one in particular, before she dissolved into a puddle of slime, Spike disappearing into the puddle.

XxX—(With Naruto)-XxX

_Boom!_ Naruto was thrown to the side with the shockwave from the bomb exploding where he was formerly standing. Wiping blood that had begun to drip from the corner of his mouth, before standing back up, pulling out a kunai which he threw at the airborne form of Deidara.

Deidara, atop his clay dragon, just leaned to the side before making a hand seal, causing the massive dragon to eject another portion of itself at Naruto, who quickly ran away, unable to generate enough lightning style chakra to disable the bomb. Thrown forwards by the bomb, he landed on his hands, bending them before flipping himself forwards on to his feet. As Naruto raced around the clearing, he demonstrated amazing dexterity and agility as explosions bombarded the earth around him.

Finally coming up with a plan, he jumped up, landing onto one of the smaller clay birds that were tasked with injuring him, before bouncing upwards onto another, continuing like this before he landed on Deidara's dragon. Running at the blond Akatsuki member, Naruto throw kunai left and right to block the incoming clay works that would blow up just far enough away to knock him off.

Coming up on Deidara, he finally took notice of Naruto before rolling to the side to avoid a shurikan that clipped the tip of his ponytail, cutting off a few hairs. Almost rolling off the edge, Deidara grabbed on to the side with chakra, before channeling chakra into his massive creation, causing more of the angelic valkerie fighters from earlier to appear from the dragon before they began engaging Naruto, who could do little other than dodge in the cramped quarters.

After three of the angels crossed their blades, a much smaller version of the dragon came off the end, created from the clay located in their swords as it chased Naruto to the back of the larger dragon. As he back flipped to avoid the jaws of the mini-dragon, he miscalculated his distance, and landed with half his foot hanging off into free air, where he was then faced with a decision, drop into emptiness, or try to get back on while dodging numerous angry sword wielding clay creatures and a miniature dragon.

However, before he could come to a choice; the mini-dragon wrapped around his neck, strangling him. As his body ran out of oxygen, his legs gave out and he tumbled backwards into the air. The mini-dragon, its job complete released him to return to Deidara, who dropped onto the smaller construct of clay, watching as Naruto tumbled through the air.

As he fell end over end through the air, Naruto managed to gather enough chakra to **Henge** into a small bird, gliding down to the ground, and landing next to Kakashi. "Well, that didn't work out as planned." Naruto mumbled, before standing up.

"Do you have any long range Lightning-style attacks?" Naruto asked, the vestiges of a plan forming on the outskirts of his brain.

"Sure, the problem is that anytime I try to use one, that dragon either moves out of the way, or he moves enough of his other clay caricatures to block it." Kakashi answered, flicking his pouch open and grabbing a pair of shurikans, throwing them at two birds that drifted to close to the pair.

Coming up with a plan, if you could call it that, Naruto whispered it into Kakashi's ear, causing him to turn and face Naruto. "Are you sure that you're Naruto, the Naruto I know wouldn't be this creative. Oh well, maybe you're finally hitting puberty?" Kakashi said, as Naruto just ignored him as he prepared for his plan, making about 15 **Shadow Clones** which all **Henge**'d into birds and took to the air.

Turning back towards Kakashi, Naruto began rubbing his arms. "I hope you can live up to expectations Kakashi-sensei, considering you have the **Sharingan** to aid your aiming skills." Naruto said, making the necessary seals and placed his hands on Kakashi's shoulder blades.

As Kakashi gathered Lighting chakra in his hands, a loud chirping sound was heard. Catching Deidara's attention, he just assumed it was the abnormally large amount of birds flying around carrying… kunai.

As the birds flitted around, Deidara's attention was turned towards the pair on the ground shouting, "**Chidori Chain**" as Naruto used his **Electro Shot**, keeping the chakra low enough to avoid hurting Kakashi as it ran along Kakashi's body towards the mass of Lightning chakra in his hand, before combining, the mass launching off like a bolt of electricity, racing along the chain of birds clutching their kunais as it pierced through the massive dragon before bouncing back along its track in different patterns each time, skewering the massive model at least seven times before dissipating into nothingness.

As his giant dragon plummeted to the ground, Deidara had no choice other than to abandon ship, jumping into the air onto a duplicate of his earlier bird before crouching down, catching his breath. _Crap, these two philistines have no appreciation for my artwork, and not only that, but I'm almost out of clay. If I don't leave now, I'll probably get captured and killed or interrogated. I'll have to leave that red haired kid behind or they'll keep chasing me._

"Okay, you win this time, Kyuubi. But don't think this means anything, I'll be back later and we'll pick up where we left off, you got it?" Deidara shouted before flying away.

In truth, Naruto and Kakashi were tired as well, well Kakashi was, Naruto could do this all day and not be winded, but he enough sense not to go off after an enemy alone and why should he, Gaara was still here. So, he walked over, collecting the red head from the shade of a tree in the forest on the opposite side of the clearing, before turning and leaping away, back to Sakura with Kakashi in tow.

XxXxX—(With Sakura) –XxXxX

As Sakura's eyes widened, she admonished herself for being so scared. She reminded herself that this was a puppet and therefore, not a living being, regardless of the lifelike appearance as she stared at Sasori's newest puppet, Orochimaru

As she listened to Sasori ramble on about his Human puppets, Sakura stored the info for later use. _Okay, I won't even try to fool myself by thinking I know the majority of his jutsu, but some I do know, and most likely Sasori will use those._ Sakura thought, before standing and resuming her fighting stance.

(For the sake of time because I've been working on this chapter for, who knows how long, I'll skip this part. It's just like the original fight, with the only difference being instead of Third Kazekage, it's Orochimaru who used snakes instead of Iron Sand.)

Landing at the entrance to the cave, Naruto sighed, seeing that his team mate was okay. Setting Gaara down on the grass, calling for Sakura; Naruto sat down, trying to keep his emotions under control. Hearing a dull _thump_ followed by others, he turned his head to see Kakashi, Sakura, and Granny Chiyo.

"So, you managed to actually beat him, huh?" Naruto asked, facing the question towards Sakura, and, receiving a nod of affirmation, continued, "Oh, haha, Sakura Haruno, the second of us to beat an S-class shinobi, I need to catch up or else I'll be back to my 'dead-last' title again. Ah well, that wasn't the point of the mission; Sakura-chan, can you fix Gaara?" Naruto said, leaning back to stare up at the sky.

After running a general scan of Gaara's body, Sakura turned to Naruto, her face grim. "Naruto, Gaara- Gaara's dead, there's nothing that I can do, nothing that even Lady Tsunade could do at this point." Sakura whispered, letting the news sink in.

Hearing another set of dull _thump_s, everyone turning to see the new arrivals, Team Gai.

"So, we were too late after all, I guess, it was our destiny to fail, and Kazekage's destiny to die alone in the clutches of the enemy." Neji said, before a pair of hand gripped his collar, lifting him off the ground, followed by a fist hitting him in the face, sending him tumbling backwards.

"Shut up! I don't want to hear anymore about your destiny crap!" Naruto said, turning back to his fellow jinchuuriki. "So, there's nothing any of us can do now, huh? *sigh* But, as the sun sets each day in the desert, the sands are stained red, and the denizens of the sand come to witness the final moments of their life bringing sun, for they do not know if it is to be their last day as well." Naruto mumbled, finally giving up as the tears free flowed down his cheeks, dropping to the ground.

"I-I might be able to do something." Chiyo said, causing all eyes to turn to her as she continued, "I've been working on a technique that could resurrect him, I had planned to use it on my grandson, but there is nothing human left of him. I have done many things wrong in my life, but it brings me infinite pleasure to know that in the end, I chose to side with my village's Kage, not the village's weapon." Chiyo said, making the necessary hand seals.

"But, Granny Chiyo, if you do this, you'll die." Sakura said, before Chiyo turned to face her, a smile on her face. "If I had 100 lives, I would give them all for my village." Chiyo retorted before going to press her hands on Gaara to begin the jutsu.

"Well, this is well and touching, but don't you think enough people have died today?" A voice asked behind everyone, making them freeze up.

"You, you're the one who attacked the village a week ago, and left this forsaken scroll with me, well guess what, I did it!" Naruto shouted, earning one of the man's trademark grins.

"Good, good, now then, if you will allow me, I can bring Gaara back. Course, my way is much different from her's." The man said, pointing a finger at Chiyo. "In fact, with my way, it's a gamble; you will live or die together. But, I doubt your lovely pinky will let you die, after all, you're her team mate after all, correct?" The man continued, before turning to face Neji. "And you, I'll let you in on a secret; people build and make their own destinies, while fate on the other hand is unfightable. So, if you decide to try and bring Gaara back, your destiny won't be failure, will it; Gaara's fate will be to live?" The man said, turning back to Naruto, "So, which will it be, destiny or fate, death or rebirth?" He finished.

"Do it, I refuse to let Gaara die alone!" Naruto said, earning another grin from the man.

"Pleased to know you kid." The man said, opening his eyes, his hair once again lit up like a birthday cake. Running forwards at speed almost unseen, he sped through a series of hand seals, pulling off his coat to reveal his back, which was covered in black seals. Finishing his seals, a long white chain appeared out of his hand, before piercing Naruto's stomach through his back, coming out of the seal on his stomach before entering Gaara's stomach.

Everyone watched awestruck as the black seals crawled up his body before joining with the chain and appearing on Gaara's body. Seeing that Naruto's breathing was getting heavier, Sakura became worried, and started to yell at the man. As if by some supernatural premonition, he turned towards her, sweat pouring down his face, "Hey girl, if you want him to live, then you better start healing him. His prisoner can't help him at the moments; he's too busy helping me!" The man yelled, prompting Sakura to jump up and begin trying her dead level best to fix Naruto.

Seeing the wary faces, the man began explaining the entire process to them, trying to calm them down. "The seals, are a containment seal, capable of holding a minute amount of nature chakra, which will help to resurrect him, course, doing so weakens me a significant amount, down to the point where after all this, I'll probably be around mid S-class. The chain is made of my wax which is better at channeling certain types of chakra than chakra metal, such as youki, or nature chakra, so what I'm doing right now is separating the some power from Kyuubi and into Gaara's body, don't worry, only about one tail's worth. Because he was a jinchuuriki, even if I revive him, he'll just die again without demon chakra inside of him, course, the-" The man started before Gaara's body began convulsing and glowing red.

"Now, stage two begins," The man said, before dropping chain, as it began getting pulled into Gaara's body, while the man made a another set of hand seals. Finishing on the Bird seal, he placed his hand on the back of Naruto's head, and spoke the name of his jutsu, "**Bonded Fate Seal**" before the kanji for Yin appeared on Naruto's forehead, and the kanji for Yang appeared on Gaara's forehead. "Now this is the deal breaker, I've now inextricably linked their souls, so if/when one dies, the other will as well." The man said, surprising everyone before the man's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell down literally drained as he passed into unconsciousness.

However, everyone's attention soon shifted to Gaara and Naruto as the former stirred, raising his hand to his head, pushing himself up on one arm. Feeling the body beneath him shift, Naruto's eyes opened to see Gaara, before he embraced his friend. Rising to his feet, hauling Gaara with him, Naruto clutched his head, Gaara following suit before the pair started to fall down. Rushing forwards, Sakura caught Naruto, while Chiyo caught Gaara, before the pair opened their eyes and widened as they took in each other appearance.

Naruto's hair had become less spiky and more flat, with fringes of red hair peeking out. While Gaara's was now standing on end, with a couple points turned completely blonde. Along his left cheek, one whisker mark could be seen, while on Naruto's face, a minute black mark surrounded one eye, giving him the appearance of a black eye.

Hearing his stomach growl, Gaara rubbed the back of his head, grumbling, "I'm hungry, anyone want ramen?" pausing, then facing Naruto and leaping at the blonde.

"NARUTO! What did you do to me? DATTEBAYO!" Gaara shouted as Naruto stumbled back, his eyes going wide as the dust collected from his fight swirled in front of him to block Gaara's body.

"What did I do to you? What did you do to me?" Naruto asked, back pedaling furiously, trying to put some space between himself and Gaara. Freezing all of a sudden, his eyes grew distant and they could faintly hear him mumble, "Yes, Mother."

XxXxX- (Omake #3) -XxXxX

After trekking for only Kami knows how long, Temari's group finally arrived on the scene. Seeing Gaara chasing Naruto around, at least she thought that was Gaara and Naruto, they both looked a bit weird.

Opening her mouth to yell, they both saw her. Naruto leapt towards her, the dust in the air carrying to her before he tackled her to the ground, yelling, "Temari-chan, Gaara's being mean to me, protect me." Naruto whined, glomping Temari's head as Gaara jogged over.

"He's lying; I didn't do it Temari-chan." Gaara said, a pout on his face before tears started leaking out of his eyes.

"Okay, I don't know what's going on, but you two need to sort out your demonic problems elsewhere." Temari said, grabbing Naruto and tossing him at Gaara, who caught his jinchuuriki, and now soul, brother.

"You're being mean Temari-chan!" Naruto and Gaara yelled together, raising one hand at her and yelling, "**Sand/Dust Burial**" and a small stream of sand and dust flowed out to bury her. Of course, in their weakened states, they didn't actually bury her, only covered her in a very fine coating of sand and dust.

"Gaara, Naruto, I hope you plan to fix this!" Temari said, making a fist.

"Ah, Temari-chan is scary!" The pair shouted, clutching each other, before grabbing a hand full of sand and throwing at her, before running away yelling, "**Pocket Sand**"

**A/N: I'm back, after almost a full month. I have no excuses, only that things have been very hectic around my place. First, I had finals, and then my mom went on a week long trip, so I was away from my computer. Next, our interwebs went down, so I was without a way to upload, and yes, I know that I could've just wrote and prepared to upload, but I wasn't in the mood, because I like to see feedback before I start writing the next chapter. Finally, I hit a block trying to write the rest of Sakura's fight so; I just skipped it because I have things I wanted to get done today on this story, and more later on in this story. Anyways, next chapter will deal with the wedding issue which will feature Ika as well, in a different sense. For those of you who didn't know, yes, this is a NaruHina story, and no, that won't be the only pairing, I don't know how long until I can achieve the other one, but I promise that it will happen eventually. Have a good day and night and life year week and decade and millennium and whatever measurement of time you prefer.**


	11. Wedding

**Wedding**

After the 'experience' of a half-Gaara, half-Naruto, had finally worn off, they thought to wake the man, seeing as he caused it in the first place. Waking him up, they quickly told him what the problem was, he informed them that the souls would sort themselves out in their own time, and each person's mannerisms would return to normal, while their appearance would most likely stay the same before the man disappeared, telling Naruto that he would find him when it was time.

He had been correct, as after several hours spent on the trip back to Suna, Gaara had returned to his expressionless tone and manner, while the dust stopped obeying Naruto's orders. His eye even went back to normal and the whisker mark disappeared off Gaara's cheek. But, their hair stayed the same, with a mixture of blonde and red.

Now that he was back in his right mind, Naruto saw that with the blonde portions in his hair, Gaara looked even more like the Ichibi than before, all he was missing was a few inches in height and a sword by his side. _Speaking of which, I'll have to ask Kyuubi about all this when I get a free chance to speak with him, or is it her._ Naruto thought before hearing Gaara speaking to him.

"Thank you for helping me, if you need anything, just ask." Gaara said, his hand outstretched towards Naruto, who took it.

After journeying to Suna, and then leaving back to Konoha, Naruto finally got a chance to relax and talk with his friends.

"So, how where things while I was gone?" He asked while they were camping for the night, everyone still tired from all the fighting.

"Oh, normal, Neji was made a Jounin not too long ago, and the majority of the Konoha 11 are Chunin." Tenten answered while Lee was off training in the nearby forest that surrounded them.

"Oh, really, so I'm the only one left huh?" Naruto said, now downtrodden.

"No, no, Hinata is still-" Neji started before his eyes flew open. "Hinata-sama, she's getting married!" Neji continued, catching the other teens' attention.

"What, why haven't I heard about this until now?" Sakura and Naruto said at the same time.

"Because it happened while you were gone, apparently, Hiashi-sama decided to marry her off to some clan leader to raise the Hyuuga's reputation. In fact, I think she's supposed to get married tomorrow." Neji said, before Tenten hit him on the head.

"Kami, Neji, you didn't think that was important enough to tell us when you first found out?" Tenten admonished, earning a sweat-drop from Sakura.

"Well, we need to help her! No one deserves to marry someone they don't love!" Sakura shouted.

"But, what if she does love him?" Naruto asked, earning a Baka shout by Sakura.

"She doesn't, she loves someone else!" Sakura shouted, whacking Naruto's head.

"So, basically, Hinata is being forced to marry some prick that she doesn't know and like just because her father says so?" Naruto asked, and receiving a nod, continued, "Well then, we have to rescue her, screw rules and marriage, if she doesn't want to marry this guy, then she shouldn't have to, we have to stop this marriage before it's too late!" Naruto finished, and earning more nods, the four went into planning mode.

XxXxXx-(With Hinata)-xXxXxX

Hinata was currently locked in her room. After waking up, her father had came to see her and tell her once again that she was going through with this marriage whether she wanted to or not. Her response was to attack him, but as she was still weak from her fight, he overpowered her and held her down while he told her how things were going to go.

"You will marry this man, or else when that demon boy gets back, I will have him killed, do you understand. It's bad enough that you would shame the clan like this, you should be proud that I've given you this opportunity to help the clan. And as if you weren't enough, Neji will undoubtedly try to stop this wedding, I'll have to have him removed from the clan as well, or else he'll raise the entire branch family against me." Hiashi said, releasing Hinata and leaving, his robes flowing behind him.

"Yes Father, I understand, and will do what you want, just don't hurt Naruto or Neji-neesan." Hinata shouted, her tears cascading down her cheeks.

After he had left, Hinata had rocked herself to sleep, still crying. _Naruto, where are you? Maybe if I had confessed to you before you left, you would've taken me with you and I wouldn't be stuck in this situation. Where ever you are, know-know that I love you Naruto, more than life itself. I hope that even if we can't be together, that whoever you marry will make you happy. _Thought Hinata as she fell asleep.

XxXx- (Next Day) -xXxX

With Naruto

As he gazed down on his home village of Konoha, Naruto's thought went to the bluenette that was getting married today.

_Don't worry Hinata, we'll rescue you from getting married today, if it's the last thing I do, I promise and I never go back on my word because that is my ninja way. But, why am I so gung-ho to come to your rescue, if it was Ino, or Tenten, or even Sakura-chan, I don't think I would be this way. Huh, I never thought about it, but you look like that girl from all those years ago, that I protected from the bullies. Speaking of which, why did I protect you, people got beat up all the time, but I stood up for you. Maybe, it was because, I saw you that you were like me, without any friends, and I didn't want you to feel alone like I did. I remember when you fought Neji in the Chunin exams, I was impressed, you always seemed weird to me, but after that, I saw that you were like me, someone who wanted to prove themselves to someone. Ah well, however it is that you love, they'll be very lucky to marry you._ Thought Naruto, before leapt out of a tree and into the village.

_Okay, Neji said that the wedding would probably take place at the Hyuuga compound, so let's get this party started._ Thought Naruto as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop to reach the Hyuuga compound.

Landing in a back alley, he saw a steady stream of people entering the compound. Looking around, he saw a back entrance, and **Henge**ing, he snuck in wandering the compound. "Okay, now then, where would I keep a bride on her wedding day?" Naruto mumbled, looking around before seeing a door that was a darker color than the others.

Peeking inside, he saw the largest wedding cake ever, easily topping 10 feet high. "Well, someone should enjoy it at least." Naruto said, before pulling out a sealing scroll.

Xxx-(With Neji)-xxX

Neji was currently walking through the clan grounds towards Hiashi's room, who had requested to see Neji before the ceremony. Arriving at the dull and uniform door, he opened it before going into a bow, "Clan head-sama" Neji said while still bowed.

"Please rise Neji." Hiashi said, causing the young male to do so. "Do you know why I have called you here?" Hiashi asked in his monotonous voice. "It's because you have been a thorn in my side for too long. You blatantly disregard the hierarchy of the clan by learning techniques only the main family can learn, then you have sexual relations with a girl without the elders' permission, and finally, left unchecked, you'll end up causing an uprising in the Branch family that will lead to civil war. So, two options await you now, 1. You can leave here alive, and be banished from the Hyuuga clan forever. Or 2. You can stay and fight, and die here." Hiashi continued, before facing the young boy expectantly.

Turning on his heel, Neji ran out of the room, his eyes shut as he barreled off the grounds.

"Hmm, pity, I was looking forward to killing the little wretch." Hiashi said, his eyebrows raised in mock surprise.

XxX-(With Hinata)-XxX

Hinata was currently at the alter, standing next to her future husband. Hearing a commotion, she turned to see the rest of her friends in the Konoha 11. As the girls saw her, their eyes lit up with jealousy at seeing her in her wedding dress. Her dress consisted of more ruffles than should be humanly possible, I mean honestly, the ruffles were holding her head up. Her arms were contained inside full arm white gloves with ruffles around the wrist giving them the illusion of flowers. Her bottom exploded out from her a full 2 feet outwards before seemingly curling in on itself. The whole thing glittered in the low lights. Her face had very little make-up, just enough to compliment her already natural beauty, with her hair in an updo, and topped with a tiara-and-veil combo. The tiara containing pearls, with the veil the color of the Byakugan.

Yet, despite her glamorous look, none of her friends could be happy for her, since they were all well aware now that this wedding was against her will.

"Well, even though I'm being paid by the hour, maybe we should get this over with?" The presiding priest said, and receiving a nod from Hiashi, who had slipped in through a back door, the music began playing.

"Why are they playing music, the bride is already here?" Kiba asked before Sakura answered.

"They probably couldn't run the risk of Hinata running away, so they've kept her here the whole time, but music a precedent at a wedding so they still have to play it." Sakura mumbled back, never taking her eyes off of Hinata.

At the alter with Hinata however, couldn't hear the ceremonial music, instead what reached her ears was Little Mix's D.N.A.. As the tears tried to trail down her face, only to get caught up in the numerous ruffles before disappearing, her thoughts went to her little schoolgirl crush turned love, Naruto.

Hearing a loud commotion outside, Hiashi grabbed the priest's arm, practically hissing in his ear, "Can we speed this up, and get to the I do already?" Hiashi hissed.

With that, the music cut off and the priest jumped straight past everything, straight down to the I do's.

"Do you, Hinata Hyuuga, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?" The priest asked, before the door swung open, and everyone turned to see who dared to interrupt such a sanctified ceremony.

Hinata's breath hitched in the throat as she looked at Naruto with an arm holding him in place and another arm with the point of a kunai pressed against his throat. Turning back to the priest, she said, "I do." While she was mentally praying for the strength to go through with this, and for Kami to protect Naruto.

The priest now turned to the male, "And do you, Fishcake Namikaze, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" The priest asked, giggles echoing across the room at the man's name.

"NOOOO!" Naruto yelled, some how getting free and running towards Hinata, his hand outstretched before a long white appendage wrapped around it holding him back as Ika's form dropped to the floor.

"No, Naruto, there's nothing you can legally do, this a ceremony that can't be stopped simply because you demand it so. Hiashi-san made a deal that can't be broken. He agreed to sell his daughter to be married to the Namikaze heir to raise the Hyuuga's reputation in a legally binding contract, so that nobody can stop this ceremony." Ika mumbled just loud enough to reach people's ears, and making a head motion towards Sakura, she ran outside screaming what Hiashi had done.

Looking back at Hiashi, his face was expressionless as ever, but behind his eyes, Ika could see that he was howling with laughter.

But, why is she going through with it now, all she has to do is come with me and I'll help her escape, all of her friends will help her." Naruto argued, trying to pull his arm free of Ika's grip.

"Tell me, Naruto, just what does this girl mean to you, that you would help her break a vow like that, and make yourself an outlaw. That you would run away with her and become a Nuke-nin, and abandon your dream for her. Tell me how you feel for her that you would do those things?" Ika said, her grip never loosening.

"I-I l-l-l-l" Naruto started, stuttering worse than Hinata ever had.

"Because I can see how she feels for you, she's going through with this wedding, crying all the while I might add, because Hiashi has threatened you if she doesn't. She's willing to throw away her life for you, her dreams of being with you because she loves you! There's no question of that, the only question is do you feel the same way?" Ika said, and receiving a nod, yelled, "I want to hear you say it!"

"I do, I do love her, I love the way she blushes whenever I'm around, I love how she doesn't go back on her word, just like me, I love how her hair is blue, but most importantly, I love her because there is no other reason!" Naruto confessed, surprising many people, as Hinata tried to cover her eyes to stop the tears. "And that is why, I'll never give up on you, I'll keep fighting to save you even if it means turning my back on my dream, because what good is a Hokage who can't even protect the woman he loves!" Naruto continued.

Seeing that Sakura had returned, Ika continued her speech, "Now, repeat after me, and I'll let you go, okay?" Ika said, before whispering into Naruto's ear once he nodded.

"Okay, got it," Naruto answered, a grin that wouldn't look out of place on the man's face, but on Naruto's filled many people with dread.

"I, Naruto Namikaze, do forever take this wonderfully beautiful woman, Hinata Hyuuga, to be my lawfully wedded wife!" Naruto shouted as Ika released him.

Reacting quickly, Ika spun around, wrapping her arm around a Hyuuga that had attempted sneaking up on them.

"No, Hinata, get away from him!" Hiashi shouted, rushing the pair before Ika slammed into his side, throwing him up against the wall.

"Can't do that, did you forget the rules of your contract, she's no longer under your control now that she's married." Ika said, her father's grin present on her face.

"No, the contract was for her to marry the Namikaze heir, and that is that man over there!" Hiashi yelled, pointing his finger at the man standing at the alter, before smiling, thinking he had trapped her in her own words.

"Man, I don't see a man, do you Spike?" Ika asked, causing the man to turn around revealing Spike doubling as Naruto.

"Oh well, she would be useless to me now. Kill them!" Hiashi shouted at the presiding Hyuugas as they leapt at the embracing pair before being blindsided by a speeding Neji who flew through the crowd striking tenketsu points left and right, disabling the majority of the guards. "No, stop that Neji, I order you to stop." Hiashi yelled, his orders falling on deaf ears.

"Did you already forget, you disowned him, so you can't order him around anymore." Ika said, before Hiashi shoved her back, before making the hand seal to activate Neji's **Caged Bird Seal** before seeing that it didn't even faze him.

"Really Hiashi, you think I wouldn't help out someone on our side of the rebellion, I removed the seal from his body and now for my favorite part of the evening. According to page 52, clause 3, paragraph 17 of the covenant of Konoha's founding families, 'If one clan should order an attack on a member of another clan, the attacked clan's clan head may challenge the attacking clan head to a 1-on-1 duel to the death.'" Ika said, "So, I challenge you to a duel, tomorrow at noon in the arena." Ika continued before snapping her fingers and Hiashi's world went black.

**A/N: So, I jumped right on to the next chapter in the series to make it up to you guys. I know that reviews are hard to come by, but I would appreciate it greatly if you would review, even if its flames, or just a simple 'good chap', it still means all the world to me. Anyways, now I will go to work on my other story. Also, I will soon be doing my own version of the Chunin exams for this story. Naruto and Hinata are a definite, but who do you think I should add as the third member of their team. Also, do you think I should try to write a lemon for NaruHina?**


	12. Do You See It?

**Can You See It?**

Hiashi's eyes fluttered open, a headache stabbing his mind as he took in his surroundings. White walls free of any décor, one window overlooking the village as the moon shone in through it, and monitors with various pieces of data racing across the screen; only one place this could be, Konoha's Hospital.

Pushing himself to his feet, he stumbled, thrusting his hand out to brace himself, only to grab on to a shoulder. Looking up, Hiashi came face to face with Hinata, who had a look of pure vehemence that looked as out of place as a smile, or any expression for that matter, on most Hyuugas.

"Hinata, what happened, why am I in the hospital?" Hiashi asked, allowing worry to seep into his voice as Hinata looked down at him with eyes half-open in boredom.

"How should I know, or care for that matter? Did you already forget, you sold me off like a slave or a piece of meat…? Well, maybe sold is a bit kind, you did it just for your reputation." Hinata said before shrugging his arm off of her and spinning on her heel to leave the room.

"Wait, don't leave! I'm sure we can talk this out!" Hiashi shouted, completely disregarding that others might be sleeping. Seeing that she didn't stop, he thrust out his hand to grab the edge of her shirt. "Hinata, you-" Hiashi yelled once again, before his eyes widened as Hinata whirled on the ball of her foot and grabbed his collar before shoving him back on to the bed.

"That is Namikaze-dono to you, Tou-teme! And I look forward to seeing you get that stick stuck up your arse shoved up so far that it comes out of you mouth, only with some blood." Hinata hissed before dissolving into mist as Hiashi jumped at her as he passed through before his eyes flew open.

Looking around, Hiashi realized that he was in his bed at the Hyuuga compound, and that it was just a bad dream. Feeling the sweat pouring down his face, he lifted a hand to wipe his face, and then he saw the scroll in his hand. Unrolling it, he read the contents before crumpling it and hurling the balled up scroll across the room.

_Hello, Hiashi-teme, this is that little punk that thwarted your plans yesterday, haha, I'm such a meddling kid. Anyways, just wanted to remind you of our duel today at noon, hope you don't miss it, I mean after all you did to raise the Hyuuga's rep, your just going to knock yourself back down by denying a duel of honor and integrity. Well, I suppose that is your style, or you'll try to sneak in more Hyuugas disguised as something I'm sure. But, that would be a breach of code, and grounds for banishment from Konoha, and despite your considerable strength, I doubt you could keep the hungry hoards of the other villages away for long all by yourself. Crap, I'm running out of paper, so I'll get to the point, show up for our duel alone, or let the whole village think you're afraid of an 18-year-old girl. Oh, BTW, I took the liberty earlier of relieving you of a certain photo, I have to say, she's cute, you obviously have great taste in girls, but I wonder what Hinata and Hanabi would think if they knew about this. _The words just kept running through his head.

As he laid his head back down to try and get some sleep so he wouldn't be dead on his feet later, he was mentally cursing the girl and Naruto for everything they had done. As his eyes slid closed once again, a figure dropped from the roof silently, before hurrying out of the room, her job done. As she leapt across the compound in darkness provided by a cloud covering the moon, she rushed. Hiashi wasn't the only one who need some sleep for the duel later. As the figure dropped over the wall marking the edge of the compound, the moon peeked out from behind its cover, shining on the departing figure and allowing only a glimpse of her blue hair to be seen.

XxX- (With Ika: Later) -XxX

As the sun crept across the sky, people drifted into the arena located in the center of the village. The two competitors were the talk of the village, and a recent poll showed that odds were 30:1 in Hiashi's favor, which was to be expected. Odds would've likely been better, but Tsunade had tipped the scales by betting on Ika, of course, what she didn't mention was that Naruto had urged her to. Naruto reputation as 'The Kid with the Luck of the Devil' had long since spread.

Many had already heard of the wedding at the Hyuuga's compound. While many didn't like it, no one was willing to say their opinions aloud, no need to get on a Hyuuga's bad side. But what really scared them was learning that 'The Demon Brat' was a relative of their beloved Fourth Hokage. Just more proof of his luck, and many were hoping that theirs was in their favor. Also, many were shocked to learn that someone would stand up to the Hyuugas and come out alive.

Naruto had gotten Hinata Hyuuga, the clan head's daughter through a brilliant plan of deception, and the girl had managed to break Neji free, and undermine Hiashi's authority as a respected clan head. Now, to top it off, all the civilians that lived boring lives were going to get to see a match between the Hyuuga clan head and some girl that no one knew, well none of the civilians. Many of the shinobi were of a different opinion. If the civilians were excited, then the shinobi were ecstatic for this fight.

This upstart had just showed up out of the blue about two weeks ago and defeated their beloved Hokage, and now she was going to get her's in this duel. Fighting against Tsunade was something no one wanted to do, but even she was reluctant to face the Hyuuga.

2. Anyone that thought helping Naruto was a good idea needed to die anyways.

That wasn't to say that she didn't have her supporters, first and foremost was Naruto and his new wife, Hinata. Then Sakura, Tsunade's apprentice, and Tsunade herself. The majority of the clan heirs, of course, some knew better than to voice their support in case she did lose. Next was the Konoha 11's Jounin senseis, Kurenai Yuuhi just wanted to see Hiashi put down for what he did to Hinata, Asuma Sarutobi figured that if Shikamaru thought Ika could win, he was probably right, Kakashi Hatake couldn't care one way or the other, he just believed that Hiashi needed to be punished for ordering an attack on Kakashi's sensei's son. Might Gai obviously backed the most youthful one, or perhaps it had more to do with the fact that Hiashi disowned Neji. Jiriya had recently been allowed out of the hospital so long as he stayed in the village for more tests, so he was currently seated on the Ika side of the arena after finding out whom her father was, he felt he owed it to her, not that he wouldn't be on this side anyways. Also on her side was Anko Matarashi for reasons she refused to tell or acknowledge, most just assumed it was because she wasn't exactly the Hyuugas greatest fan considering they ridiculed her earlier in her life after some poor life choices.

As the crowd settled in for the fight, they saw a figure strolling across the arena before standing on the Hiashi side. As he looked around, people could see the expressionless visage and the familiar body. As the ref saw him, he used chakra to amplify his voice before announcing, "We have on this side, Hiashi Hyuuga, clan head of the Hyuuga clan. As the challenged, he shall select the form of combat!" The ref shouted, causing many confused faces to be seen across the arena seats.

As he turned to ask Kakashi, Kakashi answered Naruto's unasked question. "Ika challenged Hiashi-sama to a duel, which means the two meet on a field of battle on semi-equal terms. The challenger chooses the location and time, and the challenged chooses the mode of combat. They can choose from Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Kenjutsu, etc. The original purpose of dueling was that one could prove that their style or skills in a specific class were better, but it finally evolved into a way to settle differences, kind of like trial by combat." Kakashi answered, before continuing as he faced the arena floor once again, "It was sort of a test of deception for shinobi. You want your opponent to think they're better than you in a certain skill so they'll pick it and you'll win. Course, most shinobi now a' days just choose whatever they're best in, such as-" Kakashi concluded before the ref's loud voice cut him off.

"The mode of combat will be Taijutsu!" The ref announced before another figure appeared on the field, cloaked in a white dress with ten strips of cloth hanging detached from the rest. Reaching out a hand, Ika gave the ref a slip of paper before resuming her place across from Hiashi.

"And on the other side, Ika Uzumaki, clan head of the Uzumaki clan! Now then, if both sides are ready," The ref announced and receiving a nod of acknowledgement yelled, "Hajime!"

As both people leapt away from each other, before slowly circling around the arena, waiting for the other to make the first move, the crowd was slightly hysterical, Ika's side in particular.

"So, we've backed the head of Naruto's clan, a clan believed to be extinct, but, if she's clan head then one of her parents is an Uzumaki." Sakura asked, receiving a nod from Tsunade before Jiriya spoke up, "Her father, he's the Uzumaki." Jiriya added, and seeing the 'please elaborate' look from others, continued, "And I know this because he arrived with Naruto's mother when she arrived, he had a brother like relationship with Naruto's father, the Fourth Hokage. His name is-" He said before whatever he said was drowned out by 'shhh's from the others as their attention went back to the arena.

"So, you're the brat's clan head, you think that perhaps you could keep him under control next time or is it that you're lying and you're not the clan head. I mean, I don't know much other than what I was told and what I ascertained. He's the Fourth's son, his surname is Uzumaki so I can only assume that his whore of a mother was an Uzumaki, and the only female Uzumaki we have had around here, that happened to die on the night of the Kyuubi's attack was Kushina Uzumaki, the previous clan head. So, wouldn't he be the clan head since he was her son?" Hiashi questioned, noting the growl that emanated from Ika's throat when Kushina was mentioned.

"Don't speak about Aunt-chan like that, you teme. While normally, Naruto would've been clan head, Uzumakis have a unique way of ascension. When the clan head dies, or steps down, first choice is the selected clan heir, but if they are under 18, the title passes on to the next eldest candidate. When Kushina died, Naruto was barely 18 minutes old, let alone 18 years, so the title passed on to the next eligible candidate, and considering the Uzumakis are an almost extinct clan, my father was next in line. When I turned 18 three days ago, he passed the title on to me. So, I'm Uzumaki clan head, and you're Hyuuga clan head, and we're fighting if I remember correctly. So bring it, you pansy!" Ika shouted before dropping into an unfamiliar stance.

"Haha, just to give you a sporting chance against a clan head who has been in power for many years, I'll fight with one hand behind my back." Hiashi taunted before Ika blinked and just stared at him as he placed a hand behind his back.

"Sorry, you say something?" Ika asked, causing Kakashi to sneeze as Naruto guffawed at Hiashi's face. "And what are you doing with that hand behind you're back, picking a wedgie?" Ika continued, getting more laughs and giggles from the crowd as Hiashi worked to keep a cool head. "Or could it be that you're playing with that stick stuck up your as-" Ika finished before vanishing to appear behind Hiashi, a scroll in her hand. "See, proof that you have something stuck up there." Ika announced, showing the audience a scroll before flicking her wrist, sending the scroll through the air to hit Hiashi in the head as he turned to face her. More guffaws.

"So, tell me, what's it like having the Byakugan, I bet you do a _lot_ of peeping?" Ika said, before covering herself in an offended manner. "If you wanted to look you should just ask, because that works _sooooo _well for Jiriya-sama." Snort from Tsunade. "Unless of course," Ika said before vanishing again before reappearing once again behind Hiashi with a Chibi-Naruto doll that she pulled from her sleeve in hand, "you're like Orochimaru and like little boys?" Ika asked again as she showed the crowd the doll.

"Of course, the alternative doesn't really work for you huh?" Ika asked, before vanishing, speeding by Hiashi at just visible speeds, and snatching his robe from his body, leaving Hiashi in his under clothes, except he didn't have any. Many of the people in attendance gagged at the nude Hiashi.

Turning to face Ika once again, she threw him his robe back. "Put that back on, no one wants to look at that. If they want to see a hot body…" Ika said, reaching up to fiddle with the tie of her dress, "They could always look at our beautiful Hokage, whose beauty rivals all." Ika said, before saving the line from getting her pummeled. "Hey, what can I say, I have a silver tongue," Ika grinned as people took in the double meaning to that before finishing the thought as she turned to face the crowd, "Speaking of tongues, have you seen some of the tongues on those Inuzukas?" Ika said, before leaning to the right to avoid a squeaky toy that nailed Hiashi sneaking up behind her.

"I mean, keep those things in your mouth. I must warn you, some people have a tongue fetish." Ika said, before pulling a black book from between her breasts. "Kiba Inuzuka, 5 inches, Hana Inuzuka, 7 inches, Tsume Inuzuka, 8 inches. The top three in," Ika read, shutting the book to read the cover, "Hiashi Hyuuga's Icha-Icha Book." Cue 'really' look at Hiashi. Flipping the book open again, she made the release seal, before smiling, "Ahh, much better, Hana Inuzuka 87-71-90, Tsume Inuzuka 93-68-104, Anko Matarashi 98-65-99, -" Ika read, now prompting Hiashi to dive at her, only for her to back flip over him, using his back as a place to push off and finish the flip. Cue perverted giggling. "Hol-hold on, this is the best part." Ika said, as a certain Jounin sneezed again.

"Kurenai Yuuhi 95-88-97, Yugao Uzuki 98-89-90, Shizune Kato …60-56-67, Tsunade Senju…this…its… its over 9000," Ika said, her eyes wide as dinner plates before she scanned the last name on the list that she recognized, "While I'm sure Naruto appreciates your stats on his 'other' side, to prevent jealousy, I'll keep quiet." Ika chuckled out.

"Just face it Hiashi, your reputation is shot, the majority of females in this village want to kill you, and you're facing an S-class kunoichi. The odds are stacked against you, and they ain't getting any better. So, tell you what, I'll stand here for 10 seconds, and let you do whatever you want to me." Ika said; her smile a bit to sickly-sweet to be good.

"But, Tsunade-sama, surely if she just stands there, Hiashi will kill her as quickly as possible?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"That would be my guess; Ika must have a plan to stop him." Tsunade answered, as their gazes returned to the field.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7" Ika counted, while Hiashi just tried to push himself up on to his feet. "8, 9, 10" Ika finished, and Hiashi still get to his feet.

"Let this be a lesson to you." Ika mumbled to Hiashi before turning to face the crowd once again. "Uzumaki Taijutsu Style: Trickster's Fist Style." Ika said before walking away, talking about her style the whole time. "It consists of two parts, the first is prank and just generally making your opponent lose their cool while you demean them, when they lose their cool and charged blindly in, you strike." Ika concluded before facing Hiashi one last time.

"But, I combined that with my style, Squid Style, which I won't tell you about. If you want to know about it, you're going to have to actually fight me and you're kinda stuck like that for about 30 more minutes by my estimations, so, good luck with that." Ika said before leaping back into the arena to avoid the incoming attack. "And see, just like I knew you would, you broke the rules of engagement. Oh well, I was looking forward to this, now I can have an actual fight instead of just tricking you." Ika said as Hyuuga surrounded her as she settled into another unfamiliar stance.

As the Hyuugas attacked, maintaining a circle around her all the while, Ika weaved around their attacks like a trickle of water just bending and folding in on itself.

"Is that the…?" Tsunade and Jiriya asked Anko who simply nodded, confirming their suspicions. "That is the Snake Style, course she admitted to dealing with Orochimaru so she probably got something out of it, but why did she call it Squid Style." Anko wondered aloud before an answer came in the mini-battle raging below.

"Well, I think that's enough defending for now? Time for some fun." Ika said as she landed, she bounced off the ball of her foot to flip over the Hyuugas to land out side their circle were she resumed her stance.

As they charged she wove around their arms to strike their shoulders with her hands, using just the index and middle fingers like a small spear to strike as the Hyuugas' arms went limp, before she used the opening to assault an unlucky Hyuuga who still had the use of his arms in single combat. As he did a palm thrust to try and catch her off guard, Ika weaved out of the way before striking the entire length of his arm before it ruptured in a bloody mess. As the Hyuuga screamed Ika jumped back before taking up a stance that everyone knew. "**8 Trigrams: Kraken's Wrath**" and charging forwards at the defenseless Hyuuga. "Single tentacle" Ika called as she poked his pelvic region, causing him to double over in pain before she snapped his neck.

Spinning around, she used both hands to poke two individual Hyuugas who tried to sneak up on her. As her fingertips made contact a ripple went over their body before they fell to the ground dead with blood leaking out of their mouths. "Twin tentacles. Don't make me use three." Ika said.

"Ho-how do you know that style, only the Hyuuga clan knows the Gentle Fist style because only we can use it with our Byakugan?" Hiashi asked, fear present in his voice as he forced himself up on to his knees.

"See that's where you're wrong, well half wrong, I can't strike someone's chakra points without the Byakugan, at least not yet. But, the Gentle Fist Style is striking a person's chakra points or internal organs, which I can remember the exact placement of after several hours of anatomy lessons and I can always substitute chakra points for pressure points to deaden nerve synapses, by sending chakra out of their chakra points, which anyone can do with enough practice." Ika said, before muttering "**Ten Tentacle** **Decapitation**" and without looking up, spun around sending the strips of cloth to wrap around the necks of the Hyuugas who had surrounded her. Then, with a pirouette, the strips severed the heads of the Hyuugas as they fell to the ground with a dull _thud._

As this point, the audience was on the edge of their seats, some in rage, and others in disbelief.

"So, she combined the dodging and defensive qualities of the Snake Style with the attack qualities of the Gentle Fist Style and used her knowledge of the body's anatomy to enhance it further." Jiriya observed from his seat, nodding in acknowledgement of her skills.

"So, tell me Hiashi, what is it that you see?" Ika asked loud enough for everyone to hear as silence once again enveloped the arena.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Hiashi answered confusion on his face.

"I mean, when you look at the world, what is it that you see? Do you see weakness, war, equality, what is it that you see in the world?" Ika questioned before seeing his confusion changed the question. "What do you see when you look at Hinata? At Neji? At Naruto? At me?" Ika asked, and this time, Hiashi took a deep breath before speaking.

"I see a failure of her clan when I look at Hinata, someone who needs to learn his place when I see Neji, a demon that deserves death and needed to die 16 years ago. But, when I see you, I see a girl who should've minded her own business and not got stuck up in this battle that you had no part in." Hiashi answered, Ika nodding after each answer to encourage him to go on.

"Really? I see a girl who was willing to sacrifice everything for her duty as your daughter, a girl who cries at night when she sends prayers to Kami to help you lead your clan, someone who deserved a chance to be happy that tried to rob her of in Hinata. I see a boy that wanted to prove that even those dealt a bad hand can come out on top, a boy that just wanted acknowledgement from his superiors, a boy that sweated blood to prove that he was worthy of the honor of being a member of your family in Neji. I see a boy that was alone for the majority of his current lifespan, a boy who was beaten down and throw away like trash but still manages to smile every chance he gets, a boy with the power to change the world if you'll just trust in him in Naruto. But when I look at you, I see a man confused with his place in the world, a man still hurt from his losses that just keep coming, a man who wants more than anything to get his daughter's forgiveness for the harsh life he has given her, a man who wants to acknowledge his nephew's accomplishments and allowing him entry into the Main Family, but who can't stand up to his father and put his foot down, a man who even in the darkest hour is using his eyes to see the moon, to see the coming sun, a man that wishes that he was the second-born, that is what I see in you Hiashi, can you see that?" Ika said; causing Hiashi's eyes to widen as Ika put out a hand to help him up.

"Do you want to be a part of the new world that is coming, to protect your family, to be a father and uncle to Hinata and Neji?" Ika asked, before Hiashi took her hand and she helped him up, then decking him with a sickly-sweet smile. "And the next time you look up my skirt, I'll personally castrate you and video it for the entirety of the Village to see." Ika said, before disappearing in a swirl of water.

**A/N: Well, I'm done, and hope you enjoyed that chapter? Uhmm, I don't really have any 'big' announcement other than, the Chunin arc starts next chapter, or the one after at the latest and I'll try to stay on top of everything, okay?**


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